


King of Monsters

by oshjoshmgosh



Series: Forced Evolution [2]
Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Canon-Typical Violence, Gen, Kaiju, M/M, Other, Post-Canon, Pre-Relationship, Psychic Abilities, Self-Discovery, Temporary Character Death, Worldbuilding
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-24
Updated: 2020-05-02
Packaged: 2021-03-02 00:14:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 27,474
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23815981
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/oshjoshmgosh/pseuds/oshjoshmgosh
Summary: "You died! You got shot in the heart and you died, you asshole! There was nothing any of us could do!""...I got better?"But new and improved abilities are the least of the boys' worries. The crystals that gave them their powers make a comeback, and it may be all the Puppy Pack can do to keep their town safe.But who's going to protect the rest of the world?Part 2/4 of my Forced Adaptation series. You could probably read this without reading that first, since I summarize the important points in the beginning notes. But it'll be more fun if you read "Chronicle" first.
Relationships: Corey Bryant/Mason Hewitt, Derek Hale/Lydia Martin/Stiles Stilinski, Liam Dunbar/Theo Raeken
Series: Forced Evolution [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1689988
Comments: 17
Kudos: 35





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Welcome to the second installation! I have four planned, so buckle in. Shit's gonna get weird 8D  
> I've got a couple friends reading this, but they haven't seen Teen Wolf, so the rest of this note is gonna be a synopsis of all the relevant parts of the show. Feel free to skip ahead to the real chapter if you've seen everything.
> 
> Theo and Liam are the main characters. Theo is a werewolf-coyote chimera, Liam is a werewolf. Theo was a Villain in season 5, got sent to Hell, then Liam rescued him to help them out with the villain of season 6. As of the last fic, he has telekinesis and can cast illusions. Liam has powerful telekinesis.  
> Corey is a werewolf-chameleon hybrid, and can turn invisible and/or intangible at will. He's dating Mason (canon) who has telepathy. In season 5 of the show, the Dread Doctors (Theo's bosses, the real villains) tried to use Mason as a sacrifice for a super-powered werewolf known as the Beast of Gevaudan. He was basically possessed/overcome/transformed, but got better.  
> Nolan is a cute little sophomore who got duped by Monroe (the villain in the last fic, and the final villain of the canon show). Theo saved him and now they're bros.  
> Chris Argent is a werewolf hunter who is now an ally to the pack.  
> Scott McCall is the Alpha of the pack (stronger, faster, in charge). Liam was his first beta.  
> Lydia is a banshee, and zones out and screams to predict deaths.  
> Derek is a werewolf. He's been around the whole show, but isn't super relevant in the later seasons, and doesn't have too much presence in this.  
> Stiles was the secondary main character until season 6, when he went off to intern with the FBI. Now he's relevant for those connections. His father is Sheriff Stilinski, who has a presence here.  
> Melissa McCall is Scott's mom, and is a badass nurse. Probably the single-most capable mundane human in the entire show.  
> Parish is a police deputy, and a hellhound. he has fire powers that never got developed in canon. he's not major, but he'll make an appearance.

Theo had taken to running patrols by himself early in the morning. Really it was more for exercise and mental health than for security; he could fly after all, and nothing had bothered them in months. With the supernatural being an open secret in Beacon Hills, supernatural denizens had begun flocking there to live peacefully. With such a concentration of peaceful creatures willing to fight for their territory, less-peaceful beings became rarer.

It probably helped that they had such an impressive resume in the supernatural underworld: They were on good terms with every werewolf pack in a hundred miles and had a powerful banshee on speed dial; two in-the-know FBI agents and the county’s law enforcement were on their side; every hunter on the west coast knew to approach them in peace or die, and every supernatural assault on the town had resulted in failure. Anything powerful enough to know about the Dread Doctors, or Nogitsune, or the Wild Hunt knew to avoid the place those things went to die.

So Theo ran. He ran quickly, fast enough that street radar clocked him around 15MPH. His route usually took him through the preserve, running a few miles along the perimeter they had established as their territory. Then he arced back toward the town, running along the highway that bisected the suburbs and led toward the downtown and industrial sectors. He ran through the warehouse district, just because it was a hotbed for illegal and supernatural activity. Then he looped back toward the suburbs and finished his route by running past Nolan’s, Corey’s, Mason’s, and Scott’s houses before passing by the police station. Then he would head home.

The whole route usually took him around three hours, so he was always back before Liam woke up for the day. Usually, it was Theo’s shower that served as the boy’s alarm clock. With the onset of summer he took to making breakfast for everyone, since his parents would still go to work around the time Theo got out of the shower.

He would never admit it, but he _really_ enjoyed his morning routine. It was amazing having the Geyer’s wish him a good morning, often accompanied by a hug or touch on the shoulder. He loved sitting down with Liam to eat the other boy’s food. By the time his run took him to more populated areas, other people would be out and about, and they would greet him pleasantly too. Mostly it was just a smile and a wave as he passed them.

The last few Saturdays however, an older lady named Evelyn had started working in the small garden in front of her house. She lived near Nolan, and had once asked him to lift a heavier plank of wood for a border. Now she greeted him with lemonade and a scone, he would do some quick menial task for her while she told him about her Friday night ‘out with the girls.’

It was cute, and her affection made him warm. He gave her his phone number, flashed his eyes and told her to call him if she ever felt threatened, or saw something she didn’t feel she could tell the police.

The Sheriff brought him into the station at one point to sign a bunch of papers, and then informed him that he was once again a living person with a Social Security number and legal identity. With everything that came with that, he clarified. It was a subtle warning that he should follow the law, but Theo took it as the man’s way of saying he was alright with him sticking around.

Theo took the exam for his GED. When he passed that easily he registered for an EMT course and was now close to finishing. The Geyer’s told him they would pay for the course without expecting him to repay them, but they all knew he would find a way to give the money back eventually. He figured becoming an EMT would be a good way to help out around the town, without being locked down to a college or career path. Plus it was a way for him to earn his own money. It would also be a great idea to have someone who knew how to treat a supernatural being on the first responder team. Melissa was wonderful, but she couldn’t really do anything until a patient arrived at the hospital.

His last class would be next Thursday, and then he would register for the exams.

Theo was getting a life together, but he was always aware of how quickly things could change.

Which is why it was so surprising when, on a run through the more populated part of town, he suddenly stumbled and hit the ground. He couldn’t breathe. Pain exploded in his chest, right where his heart – Tara’s heart – was, but he couldn’t get the strength to lift his hand to check it. He was dying. The thought tasted like acid, but he didn’t have enough time to really examine it.

Everything went dark.

***

Theo woke up screaming.

Everything was dark, and he was cold. He lashed out, fists banging a dent into his small, metal enclosure.

No, no, no! He had been here before!

With a thought, the door to his cubicle exploded open and crashed against the far wall. Another thought slid his tray out from the wall and he rolled off it, tangled up in his sheet, to the floor. The lights in the morgue were off, but there was an alarm sounding in the hallway.

There was never an alarm in hell.

Stopping and taking a deep breath, Theo forced himself to calm. His heart was racing and his throat was burning, but all of that could be held at bay.

He was alive.

How was he alive?

Sitting up, he turned and looked around him to confirm that he was in the morgue. He had been here often enough to recognize it, and the wall of cubicles for bodies was a dead giveaway.

His throat burned so badly. He was parched. He felt almost enraged with thirst, the desire to drink creeping up on every thought. Only his long practice at staving off instincts and holding onto his humanity kept him from raging and breaking the rest of the morgue.

Footsteps running down the hall brought his attention to the shattered window – apparently the door to his drawer had gone through the glass before hitting a wall. Four heartbeats told him how many people were coming to investigate.

The heartbeats.

They would be full of blood.

They were probably human, it would be so easy to-

What the hell was happening to him? He was thirsting for blood. Why was he so desperate for blood?

The door flew open to reveal three medical staff and one security guard. Two of the staff were women, the other and the guard were both men. He didn’t know any of them on sight, but it was clear they knew him.

“Mr. Raeken? Are you alright?” The shorter woman asked from her position behind the security guard. He focused on her, and she flinched. She flinched, but held her ground, which let him know that she was aware of the supernatural, even if she didn’t know what was going on either.

Would she know what was happening? He doubted it. He had been in the morgue, which meant everyone thought he was dead. He remembered a pain in his chest, but whatever killed him had happened too suddenly for him to know much else. If no one expected him to be alive, then there were a couple people he needed first.

“I need you to contact Dr. Geyer, ER nurse Melissa McCall, and Sheriff Stilinski.” The burn at the back of his throat made itself known again. It would be so easy to-

“I also,” he cut off his thoughts, then cut his words off with a growl and a cough. “This is gonna be weird. But I also need a bag of blood. Things are gonna get…really bad if I don’t get that immediately.”

He would remember later to be extremely impressed with the woman who had addressed him. She disappeared with a curt ‘on it’ before sprinting down the hall. It was only a minute later that she returned with a bag of blood. The security guard was talking on the phone – hopefully contacting the people for whom he had asked – when she approached him slowly. She held the bag out for him, and it took all of his self-control to not slash it out of her hand and go for her throat.

Theo broke open the sealed spout and put his lips to it, sucking greedily. Immediately the burn abated. He drained the bag, and by the time it was empty he felt like himself again. He sat back against the wall with a sigh, uttering a ‘thank you’ to the woman who had retreated as soon as he had the blood.

The Dread Doctors had experimented with vampires before, but their transformation mechanics were completely different. He had to assume that a sniper had shot him in the heart, because he hadn’t even heard the shot. The bullet had been big enough to obliterate his heart, otherwise he probably could have survived. A vampire’s heart was one of its weaknesses; they wouldn’t heal from a destroyed heart, just like they wouldn’t heal from a destroyed head. A person wouldn’t turn into a vampire if their heart was destroyed.

“What happened to me?”

The same woman as before – her garb identified her as a nurse – answered him while the security guard stayed on the phone and the other two watched with wide eyes from the hallway. The male hospital staff member was also on his phone, but Theo didn’t care enough to listen to what he was saying.

“You were shot in the chest. We’re not at liberty to know by who, but you were dead when the paramedics arrived. You’ve been dead for two days, kept refrigerated until the funeral was scheduled.” Theo nodded when she stopped talking, grateful for her candor.

Slowly, he lifted himself to his feet. The woman stood up at the same time, watching him carefully but neither fleeing nor approaching him. He was stiff – probably from being refrigerated – but overall he felt fine. He stretched out his limbs one at a time, levitated the blood bag into the trash can, made a brief flicker of light in the woman’s periphery – which drew her attention briefly – and lengthened his fangs within his mouth.

They were longer than they should be, bumping into each other sooner than he would have expected. Theo drew them back in. Then he lifted his hand and willed his claws to flick out.

Everyone startled back with a scream as his hand transformed.

Claws erupted from his fingertips, but they were easily four inches long and jet black. The hard material they were made of stretched back over his fingers, coating and protecting them all the way up his mid-digits. Streaks of the same black shell ran up his hand and halfway up his forearm, reticulated to allow movement but locking to prevent overextension.

“That’s new.” He muttered, loudly enough for everyone to hear. The woman closest to him released a panicky laugh, her eyes wide as she visibly tried to keep from freaking out. He willed the massive claws away, glad when they vanished as easily as they had appeared.

“Dr. Geyer and Melissa McCall are on their way.” The security guard announced, his voice shaky. “The Sheriff is dealing with the FBI and will get back to you later.”

“I can wait here for them if you want, but I’d rather be in a warmer room.” The security guard paled, but the hospital staff all nodded at him. The other woman ran away only to return a moment later with a hospital gown.

Theo realized he was naked except for the morgue sheet tangled around him. He took the gown gratefully and put it on with little shame. He took great pleasure as the guard looked away in embarassment, and by the two women’s appreciative glances before they too politely looked away. The other guy must have caught his light smirk, because he just raised an amused eyebrow at him. Theo winked in response, and the guy rolled his eyes before leaving.

Dr. Geyer wrapped him up in a suffocating hug as soon as he entered Theo’s temporary room. He returned the hug less aggressively, still not comfortable showing open affection, but not willing to spurn it. The man asked a bunch of questions Theo couldn’t answer, and was thankfully interrupted by Melissa’s arrival.

“Liam and Jenna are on their way as well.” Theo swallowed at the relief that welled up in him at that. He really wanted to see Liam, and he couldn’t imagine what the boy must have been going through at his death. “If you don’t mind, Theo, I would like to run a gauntlet of tests on you.” He nodded his assent, wondering what the man would be able to glean of his new condition. “I figured we’d start with a blood panel, MRI, CT scan, and an EEG.” He knew all of the terms, and nodded readily. “If the results of these tests reveal anything I may ask for more, but without anything in particular to look for, this is all I can come up with.”

Several vials of his blood were taken and while the vials filled Dr. Geyer took his blood pressure and listened to his heart and lungs. By the time Melissa left to take the blood to the lab, Liam had arrived. Theo could hear him as he entered the hospital, his heart and feet pounding separate rhythms as he sprinted to Theo’s room. Theo lifted himself to his feet and opened the door just in time for Liam to barrel through it. He received an armful of crying werewolf and had the air squeezed from his lungs a second time.

“You stupid asshole how fucking dare you! You were dead! You were dead and there was nothing we could do because you were just dead!” Liam continued crying and clutching at him for a long minute, and Theo just clung onto him in return. He didn’t really mind the claws that dug into his back; they would heal and he was only wearing a hospital gown, after all.

“You smell different.” Liam’s words were soft after his frantic sobs died down. Theo took it as the chance to pull away, but kept the other boy close enough to stay in contact.

“What do you mean?” Liam’s eyebrows turned down as he thought. He took in several deep, slow breaths.

“You smell like that thing we found in the woods. The crystal thing that gave us our psychic powers.” Theo’s eyebrows lifted in surprise, not having expected that. He pushed Liam to the side, holding out his hand so that Dr. Geyer could see as well. He let the new claws erupt over his hand and arm, restraining Liam’s startled leap with the hand still on his shoulder.

“I think something happened, when I died. I came back different. I needed to drink a bag of blood, otherwise I might have killed someone for it.”

“Like a vampire?” he nodded at Liam’s half-sarcastic question.

“And the list of tests continues…” Dr. Geyer trailed off.

Liam’s mom arrived then, and pulled Theo into another crushing hug. She also cried on him, but by now he was used to it and just held her tightly in return.

The rest of the day was spent being tested by Dr. Geyer and various lab techs. Liam called everyone in the pack to tell them all the good news, and Theo was almost looking forward to the party that would doubtless invade their house that evening. The Sheriff came by while Theo was in the MRI, let him know he would avoid submitting his Death Certificate again, and that they had caught the guy who shot him.

Theo obediently used whatever powers Dr. Geyer instructed during the tests, helping the man collect all sorts of data. Since Liam connected Theo’s resurrection to the alien psychic crystals, they figured it would be a good idea to gather as much data as possible since there were three more boys who had been affected by the object. There was no real evidence they were related, but it was the best guess they had.

Scott and Lydia were home for the summer, so when Theo and the Geyers finally went home it was to find the place invaded. Corey, Mason, Nolan, Derek and Malia were waiting at the house as well. Corey, Mason and Nolan all hugged him, all crying with relief at seeing him alive. The others all expressed their relief, Malia even going so far as to hit him in the shoulder and say “I’m glad you got better.”

Eventually everyone went to their own homes, and everyone in the Geyer house settled down to sleep. As Theo was laying in bed, attempting to shut his brain down, he heard it.

A faint pinging sound.

At first he dismissed it as some sound in the house, or from someone else’s.

The sound was so soft, barely perceptible even when he was looking for it. The ping was similar to that of sonar in movies, high pitched and hollow sounding. It tolled twice in quick succession every five seconds, a slow heartbeat.

After a few minutes of trying to shut it out, he got to his feet and made his way to Liam’s room. Knocking softly on the door, he opened it when he heard a soft “Come on in, Theo.”

“What’s up?”

“Can you hear that?” He settled himself on the side of the bed. Liam was laying under the covers, and Theo sat close enough that his knee touched Liam’s side. The werewolf shifted so his shoulder pressed against Theo’s hip.

“Hear what?”

“It’s a soft pinging. So quiet I couldn’t hear it until I laid down to sleep. Be quiet for a couple seconds and just listen.”

Doing as he said, Liam said nothing. Theo let the silence extend for a long minute, just listening silently for the sound.

“I don’t hear anything. Project it, so I know what I’m looking for?” Theo nodded, and envisioned the sound for Liam to hear. It would be slightly delayed from his own perception, but that hardly mattered. “Okay, that I can hear. Stop, and lemme listen again.” Theo killed the illusion and let the other boy listen. After a few seconds, Liam spoke up again. “Alright, I think only you can hear it. I heard your illusion, but I can’t hear the sound on my own.” Theo couldn’t help feeling slightly disappointed, but he crushed it.

“What do you think it is?” Theo shrugged in response.

“Hopefully not in my imagination. That would be just perfect, if I started hearing things and going crazy in addition to my new blood lust.” Liam smacked his leg weakly.

“We’ll deal with it. And we’ll deal with the whole vampire drama too.” Smiling, Theo patted Liam’s chest and then used it to lever himself to his feet. Liam released a dramatic wheeze as Theo put his whole weight on him.

“You’re right. Thanks, Liam. I’ll head back to bed, we can figure out the sound and blood in the morning.”

“You-“ Theo lifted an eyebrow as Liam cut himself off. The werewolf’s heart beat a little quicker than normal, and he could smell nervousness coming from Liam. He waited. After a few loud heartbeats, that he knew Liam knew he could hear, the other boy spoke. “You could stay here…if you want? Just for the night!” He paused again, and looked up through his eyelashes. “Please?”

Theo didn’t make an attempt to hide how Liam’s question made his own heart beat a little faster in his chest. Theo wasn’t dumb, he knew how he felt about the other boy. He knew Liam felt _something_ for him in return, if not the same something. They were Not Talking About It. But with everything else going on, that was probably for the best. Likely Liam was feeling vulnerable from Theo being _dead_ , and wanted the comfort of having him close by.

He couldn’t pretend the idea was unappealing.

Nodding, Theo lifted the covers and got into the bed, fitting himself into freed space as Liam shifted from the middle of the bed. Concentrating, Theo envisioned his bedroom and picked up his pillow. In his mind he floated it through the air and out of his room and down the hall. He had closed Liam’s door, so in his mind’s eye he pictured reaching out and turning the knob and pushing the door open gently. The sound of the door opening was almost enough to disrupt his imagination, but he kept up the image. His pillow approached them and he dropped his focus. His pillow dropped to the bed, and he reached out and pulled it behind his head, settling himself comfortably.

“I’m not gonna lie, that was really impressive.” He smirked at Liam’s comment.

“Thanks. You’ve gotta imagine everything exactly as it is, or the telekinesis won’t have anything to act on, or you’ll break stuff.”

“Like I said, impressive.”

“Goodnight, Liam.” The werewolf shuffled around at his words, getting comfortable. Liam shifted until the side of his head was pressed lightly against Theo’s bare shoulder, and his knee bumped against Theo’s. In return, Theo moved his arm just enough for his elbow to bump Liam’s.

“Night, Theo.”

***

“So I have good news, and I have bad news.” Dr. Geyer had told them all to be home for lunch, since the lab would have Theo’s bloodwork ready and it would give him a little bit of time to evaluate everything together. Theo and Liam were sitting next to each other on the couch while Liam’s step-dad sat across from them, a tablet in hand. Jenna was hovering, filled with too much nervous energy to sit.

“The good news is, all vital signs and key health index points are exactly within the spectrum I would expect for a healthy, extremely active young man.” Theo and Liam nodded, glad to hear that but waiting for the ‘but.’ “The bad news, is that I have no idea what to do with the rest of this.” He set the tablet down, showing what Theo recognized as a CT scan.

“There is a mass in your heart.” He used his thumb and forefinger to zoom in on the image, enlarging the portion displaying Theo’s chest. Just as Dr. Geyer said, clear for even Liam’s untrained eyes to see, there was a white spot in his chest that didn’t belong. It was difficult to tell what it was, but to Theo it looked like someone had grown a jagged crystal and set it right in the middle of his heart. The mass was small enough that it looked like four more could fit comfortably within Theo’s heart, and was obviously not obstructing his blood flow.

But it didn’t belong there.

Dr. Geyer swiped the screen to another CT image, this one looking at him from the side. The mass looked almost identical, a jagged bundle of crystals. The second image provided a measure of depth that confirmed the crystal was inside of his heart, instead of just in the same area.

“The mass’ existence is the first thing I don’t know what to do with. The second thing, is this.” He swiped to another tab and this time Theo recognized an MRI video. The man hit play. “This video is your MRI, when I had you sprout your…new claws.” After a few seconds the video arrived at the right point.

His heart lit up with obvious activity, followed immediately by his hands doing the same.

“Whatever that thing in your heart is, I think it’s connected to your claws.” Theo nodded, agreeing with the assumption. “Another point of concern is…your blood. All of it. The workup returned your cell counts as zero, so the techs took a look at a spot under a microscope. Every blood cell, both red and white, have tiny crystals in them. They obviously aren’t interfering with the cells’ jobs, but…it is concerning.”

Concerning was an understatement. This was completely fucking wild!

“If you don’t mind, Theo, I would like to take a couple tissue samples, to look for the crystals in other places too. I would also appreciate if you sat for another MRI, and an fMRI where I have you use various abilities so we can see what they look like. Liam, I would also like for you to do the same so that we have a sort of control.”

“We should get Corey to do it too, since he’s probably closer to a control chimera than I am.” Theo chimed in. “Maybe Mason as well, get a record of his brain waves while he’s resting and when he’s using his powers. Might be useful for the future too.” The man nodded in agreement. “All of this will take time, so perhaps we can space these out over the next several days.”

“Did you learn anything about why I needed blood?” The man shook his head.

“Have you had cravings since then?” Theo also shook his head no. “If you do, I would like for you to let me know as soon as the thirst starts. If it’s reasonable, I think we should aim for an fMRI while you’re having your craving to see if we can learn what part of you is causing it.” He agreed, and Dr. Geyer put his tablet away.

“Theo, the pinging.” Liam prompted. Dr. Geyer’s eyebrow lifted in question, and Theo nodded.

“When it’s really quiet, I can hear a faint pinging noise. It sounds like this.” He demonstrated, casting the illusion on both Geyers. He could barely hear the sound now, but if he focused it was always present. He stopped the illusion after the man nodded his acknowledgment.

Theo was surprised when Dr. Geyer took an otoscope from his bag. What else did he have in there? Theo let him look in his ears, but after only a few seconds he withdrew.

“I can’t find anything that would obviously be causing that sound, so it is probably external. Or mental. Having been faced with legitimate psychic powers, I don’t think it’s beyond the scope of reality that whatever caused the change in you is tied to something out in the world at large. I am hesitant to draw connections, but given Liam’s evaluation of your scent, and the fact that you have crystals growing inside you, it could be related to the object that gave you your powers. I can’t begin to guess much more, but that would be just convenient enough for our lives, now wouldn’t it?” Theo smirked at Dr. Geyer, who smiled in return.

“I’ll talk to the various techs at the hospital, and schedule your tests when they’ve got free time.” They nodded, and Liam’s step-dad left to return to work. Jenna finished making them an easy lunch of tomato soup and grilled cheese.

After eating, Theo decided to go talk to the Sheriff about the man who killed him.

Even by his standards that was a weird thought.

Liam followed him of course, unwilling to be separated if it wasn’t necessary. Mason and Corey met up with them on the way, which he welcomed.

“I know I said it yesterday, but it’s good to have you back, man.” Theo responded with a simple ‘thanks’ and brushed his shoulder against Mason’s. He knew if the human looked he would see that Theo was glad to have Mason’s friendship. It wasn’t nearly on the level of his relationship with Liam, but it was nice having someone else who was genuinely happy to have him around.

It made him feel less like he was _only_ there because of Liam.

“Theo.” The Sheriff addressed when they arrived, derailing whatever conversation he’d been having with the desk attendant. “Good to see you up and about. How can I help you?”

“I was wondering what you could tell me about the guy who killed me.” The desk attendant coughed, obviously also not sure how to feel about that statement either. The Sheriff just side-eyed the man and sighed.

“Unfortunately, not a lot. The guy is effectively a professional hitman. He received an unmarked envelope containing your photo, your physical characteristics and some readily available social info, like your general location, birthday, and people you hang out with. The envelope contained a private key and password for a block chain wallet, with instructions to access it after texting proof of your death to a given phone number. The phone number belongs to a temporary SIM card purchased with cash at a gas station in Mexico.”

“So whoever wanted me dead knew what they were doing.”

“Basically.” Theo caught Mason’s head bob in a tiny nod before the boy walked over to the water cooler and sat down with a cup. Theo avoided looking at him since the Sheriff’s eye contact had grown intense. “I thought about calling in a specialist to look into his background, but I would need permission from the higher ups.”

So he wanted Mason to dig around in the guy’s head for any connections they could follow. Smart.

Theo kept up pointless chatter about the man, and then the criminal justice system at large, and then some idle pleasantries. Liam looked confused at first, but he must have caught on to both of them obviously ignoring Mason, because he and Corey made their way to the water cooler as well and stood there chatting idly. Theo was actually proud. They obscured Mason without looking like they were hiding him; to anyone passing by it would look like the three of them were just talking while Theo conversed with the Sheriff.

After a few minutes Mason stood up. The three made their way back to Theo and the Sheriff, who chattered on for another minute before saying their goodbyes. The four boys left and were on the road back home before three pairs of eyes locked onto Mason.

“Wow, that was scarily in sync.” He commented before jumping right in to what they wanted to know. “The guy never met Monroe, and he’s never been in actual contact with any of his employers. He did used to run with the Calaveras though, about fifteen years back. The Argents had dealings with the Calaveras, so if Monroe had Gerard’s old contacts, it’s very possible he was on the list. If we missed anyone connected to Monroe, then he could have been hired by them. Unfortunately it’ll probably be impossible to find out who without getting camera footage from the gas station in Mexico.”

Liam groaned loudly, obviously considering that impossible. Unfortunately, his conversation with the Sheriff confirmed that it might be.

“The Sheriff said he was reaching out to the appropriate channels to try and get that footage, but that he’s not hopeful. Some gas stations there have security cameras, but a lot don’t.”

“And block chain wallets are effectively untraceable, because you can make them as easily as an email account.” Theo nodded at Mason’s statement.

“But what about the account that deposits the money?” Mason shook his head at Liam’s question.

“Unless they were dumb enough to deposit directly from a bank account, the only record will be a deposit from a public key of another wallet, which is completely different from the private key. If we had the private key of the donor wallet then we could find the bank account _that_ got money from, which could lead to the owner of the account.” Liam huffed out another disappointed sigh.

“Block chain stuff is so complicated and secretive.” Corey said despondently. Theo just smirked and returned his attention to the road. The Dread Doctors had trained him extensively in discreet payment methods, so he knew exactly how complicated and secretive that stuff could get.

“But if it _was_ connected to Monroe, why only go after Theo?”

The boys mused about the assassin’s possible connections the whole way back to Liam’s house, where they intended to spend the afternoon playing video games and relaxing.

They started off with Smash Bros, but around the fourth match Mason was zoned out and playing absolutely terribly.

“What’s up, dude? Why do you suck so hard?”

“Can’t you guys hear that?” Theo immediately whipped his head around to stare at Mason, who turned sharply to stare at him in response.

“You can hear it?”

“Through you, I think.” Theo relaxed, not expecting much more. “I can…hear more from you too though.” Now intrigued, Theo just cocked an eyebrow. Mason could always hear more; he could hear everything in a person’s head if he really tried. “No, not like that.”

“Guys, use words.” Liam admonished, drawing their attention away from each other. Mason waved his hand and seemed to struggle with his explanation.

“I can…There are…like….voices, but not. Impressions? Feelings? Potential? I don’t know. There’s something coming from Theo, but it’s not his thoughts. It’s like if there were thousands of tiny voices all screaming out their desires from all over his body.” The three boys just stared at him, unsure how to respond. “I know! But I don’t know how else to describe it! Gimme a sec.” Liam, Corey, and Theo all traded glances while Mason glared off into the middle distance, waiting quietly. Theo was doing his best to suppress his surface thoughts so that Mason wouldn’t be distracted, and he would bet the other two were doing the same.

“Theo, bring out your new claws.”

“New claws?” Corey asked, and right; only Liam had seen the new claws, and Mason probably knew about them from his memories. Theo obliged, gratified by Corey’s wide eyes and awed ‘so cool, they’re so extra!’

“That’s it. That’s what I’m hearing!”

“My claws?”

“No! Well, sort of. I’m hearing the crystals! They’re all shouting about what they can do, but it’s not until you actually use the ones that are yelling that it becomes clear.” Theo thought that explanation barely made sense, so Mason continued. “I think you have new abilities, and I’m sensing your potential. Whatever those crystals in your heart and blood are, they’re almost sentient. Sentient enough for me to hear, but probably not enough to do anything beyond what your brain demands.”

“So…Can you tell what I can do?” Mason remained silent for a second and then shrugged.

“Try out your abilities, and lemme listen.” Now it was Theo’s turn to shrug. Why not?

Deciding to start simple, he reached out with his mind and lifted the game controller into the air. Spinning around once, he lifted the others and wiggled them for a few seconds. When Mason gave no response, he set them down and shifted to illusions.

He targeted Corey and conjured a duck, waddling and quacking on the table. Mason let out a small gasp and leaned in toward him intently. Theo lifted an eyebrow, but said nothing and maintained the illusion. He made it waddle around the controllers and look at Corey, and quack.

“Push it out of Corey’s mind.”

“What?”

“Bring it out so we can all see it.”

“That’s…” he knew he could project the same illusion into multiple people’s minds, but it was insanely difficult. It was easier with simple things, and for something as complex as a duck he would need to envision how it would look on three different sides, and make sure each person was seeing the right side…

“No, no…” Mason interrupted his thoughts. “Give it…give it light.”

Something within him resonated at that description. Tilting his head and considering the duck that only Corey could see, Theo…pushed it out.

“Yes!” Mason cried, elated. The boy leaped to his feet and danced around for a second. Theo sat still, staring at the duck that he could see with his eyes. He looked at Liam, who looked up from the duck and nodded. He looked at Corey, who also nodded.

“You can all see it.”

“It’s there.”

“Now wait! Wait!” Mason’s shout drew their attention away from the duck, and Theo dropped his focus. It blinked from existence. “Give it form. Make it real.”

“Make it-“

“I can’t-“

“Yes you can!” Theo didn’t interrupt, although he doubted. The prospect didn’t feel as crazy as it would have sounded a single minute ago, but it was still insane. He couldn’t…could he? He turned at stared at the table.

He would do something less complicated than a duck, if he was really going to do this. Theo decided on a game controller, since he had three examples right in front of him.

Make it real. Give it form. He would normally cast illusions by envisioning what he wanted someone to see, or hear, or feel. So if he wanted to _make_ something…maybe he should envision what _made_ it, rather than how someone would perceive it.

A game controller would be plastic. Purple, two solid pieces sealed together transversely.

As he thought, he could feel…something. Potential. It felt like the controller was building itself within him. He projected the feeling outward, and the purple, plastic shell of the controller seemed to overlay itself on the world.

“Holy shit.”

Theo continued, envisioning the different textures on the two control sticks, and how the buttons would spring back after being pushed. They were a different plastic too. And the triggers on the back.

With each thought, the controller on the table became more complete. The pieces didn’t fade away as Theo stopped thinking about them, but remained part of the whole in his focus. Piece by piece he constructed a controller identical to the three others on the table. He left out the cord though, and adjusted the back of the solid-illusion to be uniform.

With a stunned sigh, Theo sat back. He kept the controller in his vision, still thinking about it. Liam reached out and grabbed it. Theo expected to need to project how the controller would move, but he didn’t. To his shock, it was enough to keep his focus on the controller for it to remain in Liam’s hand. The boy twiddled the control sticks, and pressed the buttons.

“Holy shit.” Theo grinned at Liam’s exclamation. The controller disappeared without a trace as soon as he stopped focusing on it, but that was alright. Mason’s eyes were wide and bright with excitement, and Corey looked disbelieving. “Guys this is so cool!”

“Theo has new powers!”

“Mason, you can _hear_ his new powers!”

Theo had a thought suddenly, amidst the excitement.

“Oh. Huh.” Mason’s tone drew the other two boys back to reality, and they cocked eyebrows at the consideration on Theo’s and Mason’s faces.

“You listening?” Mason nodded, eyes focused on Theo’s arm. “Liam, gimme your claws.”

“My-“ Liam cut himself off, confused. He stared at Theo for just a second though before flicking out his claws and reaching out. Theo took his hand and turned it, pressing the sharp nails against the skin of his forearm. Liam grimaced as he raked the claws through his skin, blood welling up immediately.

“Oh.” Mason’s eyes were wide, even as Theo’s arm healed over as it normally would. “They hate that.”

“Huh?” Mason explained at Liam’s confused question while the boy cleaned the blood off his claws.

“The crystals, the things that give Theo his powers. They don’t like injuries. Every single one of them cried out when he was wounded. Some of them seemed like they demanded something, while others got the urge to protect. Do it again.”

Hesitant but obedient, Liam sliced through Theo’s forearm. Theo conjured a physical towel to absorb the blood so that it wouldn’t get on his clothes or the furniture. It was absurd, and he would need to remember to put it in the sink before dismissing it, but it worked.

“The demanding ones seem to want regeneration. None of them make an attempt to heal the wound though.”

“But it healed.” Mason nodded.

“That might just be the healing from being a chimera.” The three of them shrugged and nodded, at a loss for a better explanation. “The ones that wanted to protect…They seemed to congregate around the heart. The crystal in your heart didn’t cry out for anything, but it seemed to be rallying the other crystals in defense. Like…It felt like nothing else mattered. The crystals think nothing matters beyond the heart crystal, that everything else will fix itself.”

“That…is kind of true, I guess.” Corey shrugged, but it was clear he didn’t really get it. Not that Theo got it either.

“I wouldn’t want to test it…But I can read the crystals more deeply the longer I listen. Theo…I think…It seems like as long as the crystal in your heart remains intact…” Mason looked away from his chest and held his eyes. His eyes were wide, and he looked incredulous. That feeling spread to the rest of them as he looked back down with an excited grin.

“I don’t think you can die.”


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So there is a little bit of exposition toward the beginning of this chapter, delving into the lore behind the crystals. It's not TERRIBLY important to the story, but it is relevant and I love world building. I made this chapter from Liam's pov, so it doesn't get too specific since he is DEFINITELY not a nerd. But I am, and I've got this all thought out. I'll make a note at the end expanding my ideas and linking them to real-world theories (fuck you TW canon, I obey physics)   
> For my friends who haven't watched Teen Wolf, I mention Kira, and La Bete. Kira is a kitsune Scott dated for a while, and she went off with some skinwalkers (their lore isn't detailed in Canon). She had a special katana that you'll remember had Special Relevance to Theo in the last fic. It had the ability to banish the souls it killed to Hell, but also to bring them back (which is how they beat Theo in season five, and how Liam brought him back in 6).  
> La Bete du Gevaudan is the french term for The Beast of Gevaudan, which I mentioned in last chapter's notes. They are used interchangeably depending on my mood.

No one was really willing to test Mason’s theory. After all, it involved trying to kill Theo.

But over the next few weeks, Mason became obsessed. He followed Theo around almost constantly, observing the crystals’ reactions to Theo’s slightest motion or power use. Whenever Theo actively used his powers Mason was dead to the world, so caught up in listening that Liam could often lift him and move him without the other boy noticing. It’s how Liam got his payment for letting his best friend obsess over and monopolize his…housemate; Mason would come back to himself, but suddenly being in different surroundings he would often knock himself over, or a nearby object, or startle so badly he yelped.

It made the redundancy less painful.

Liam was interested in the theory behind the crystals. He was, he’d swear!

But he was so tired of hearing about them constantly.

Mason had been droning on about the nature of the crystals for about five minutes. His best friend could hear things from them. Apparently all the little tiny crystals all throughout Theo had their own personalities, or something. It was hard to keep track. He almost got interested when Mason likened it to werewolves.

“It’s almost like the werewolf spark, or whatever gets transferred from an alpha when they bite someone. It’s like it settled into you, body and soul, and contributes its own urges and abilities. Your will is stronger than those urges, so they’ve kinda fallen into the background and you’re just left with the abilities.”

“So it’s supernatural?” he asked, carefully not thinking about how desperately he wanted to change the topic. If Mason were listening to his thoughts, instead of the crystals, he would have picked up on Liam’s discontent. But he was both cursed and lucky, because his best friend remained oblivious to his less than kind thoughts.

“I couldn’t tell you that. What even determines whether or not something is supernatural?”

“Dark matter.” Theo responded instantly. Oh? If Theo was going to start contributing more to the conversation, he might pay attention better.

No. Stop, Liam! Yes, Theo is unrighteously hot. Yes, you have feelings for him. No, that is not a reason to find him more interesting than your _best friend!_

Mason made an impatient gesture, and he tore himself away from his internal scolding to listen. Maybe it would be about werewolves.

“You guys heard the Doctors talk about frequencies?” They all nodded. “You’ve all heard the theories about dark matter; that it has to exist but is somehow just out of phase enough with our bodies and instruments that we can’t actually detect it?” Corey and Mason nodded, but he was already lost. Honestly, he didn’t care enough to make Theo really get into the physics of it – he wouldn’t get it anyway. He had heard about dark matter in passing, but more in a Star Trek kind of way than anything real. He waved to let the other boy continue explaining. If it turned out to _matter_ – ha, too bad Mason wasn’t listening – he could beg Theo to explain again later.

“The Dread Doctors learned that dark matter and energy exist on a different metaphysical frequency than regular matter. That’s why we can’t detect it, although we can observe its effects on our universe. The Doctors also established that the human soul is a supernatural entity; it’s a confluence of dark energy arranged in a way that exhibits a level of consciousness, or feeling. I don’t know the specifics. But other entities exist in the same way: collections of dark energy usually bound to some physical matter component, like a body.”

Now _that_ was pretty cool. The Dread Doctors had confirmed the existence of souls? He supposed that the soul being a supernatural entity made a sort of sense; Kira’s sword had bound Theo’s soul to it when it sent him to Hell, after all. The sword was definitely supernatural. Sure. He could roll with this.

“Or like the crystals.” Theo nodded. Great, so the crystals were supernatural too.

“Entities that have dark matter bound to them in addition to physical matter are what make something supernatural.” And since werewolves were supernatural, that meant they had the entities, as well as some dark matter…or whatever…right? Liam decided to ask.

“So werewolves…”

“All of the instincts and urges belong to the dark energy entity transferred by the bite. When it infects a new host, it does some magic stuff to recruit more dark energy, and dark matter, and then it tries to take over the host. Most human souls are stronger than the werewolf entity. It wreaks its transformation and usually gets absorbed, more or less, by the soul. The person gets the ability to transition the dark matter bound to the entity into the physical world, which is where the claws and fangs and fur come from. It also manifests as the other abilities like super strength, or senses; it’s all dark matter guided by dark energy to influence the physical world.”

Hell yes! He had been right! Sort of. He was so following this intellectual discussion. If Mason were listening he would be so proud!

Or not. He would probably tease Liam for paying more attention solely because it was Theo talking.

At least he was self-aware.

The topic shifted back to crystals, so Liam tuned it out and took to juggling several sticks and rocks around him. He decided an orbit would be the coolest, so he lifted himself into the air, pulling his ammo with him. If he turned his hold into a circulating field, like a real orbit, rather than envisioning hands holding each object…

By the time Liam found the limit to what he could hold with his new technique, he couldn’t easily count the number of small objects. The limit only existed because of how close the orbit was. If he extended it…

“Theo? What is it?”

His attention shifted – like usual when Theo’s name was mentioned, dammit – and he almost lost hold of his orbit. He hurled his ammo into the woods instead and dropped to the ground when he registered Theo holding his head.

“It’s the signal. That thing I told you about.” Liam remembered. It was the night after Theo had come back from the dead…He was so glad Theo had agreed to stay with him. He barely slept, but it was because he couldn’t stop validating Theo’s continued existence every other minute.

“It’s loud.” Mason explained when Theo apparently wasn’t going to. “It’s gone from a whisper to a clocktower, ringing over and over again.

“What do we do?!” Theo was obviously in pain. His hands were pressed so hard against his ears Liam worried he would crush his own skull. He reached out and set a hand on Theo’s neck, pulling in the pain, but there wasn’t much there. There was nothing for him to take, it was all in his head!

All of a sudden, it stopped.

Theo fell slack, body crumpling. Liam caught him with telekinesis, slowly lowering him to the ground and pulling Theo’s head into his lap.

“Dude, are you okay? What the hell was that?”

“Guys?”

A loud crash drew all of their attention. Liam, Theo and Mason noticed Corey was already staring in the direction of the crash and followed his gaze. A trail of vapor lead down into the Preserve from the sky.

They were near the place the crystal object had crashed.

Theo used Liam to haul himself to his feet and then the four of them were sprinting through the trees. It only took them a few minutes to reach the landing site.

Much like the first time, the air smelled of burnt air, bitterness, and crystal.

Different from the first time though, the crystals had all already ejected. Liam counted nine crystals scattered within a few dozen feet of the impact crater. Three were embedded in trees so deeply only an inch or two stuck out from the bark. The rest were spread on the ground, either stuck fast or laying flat.

“Mason?” he asked, hoping his friend could get something from the crystals.

“They’re silent.” He responded warily. “I can definitely sense them…but there aren’t words, or feelings, or impulses.”

“I think we should take them,” Theo said firmly. Liam looked at him and lifted an eyebrow in question. He didn’t disagree, but it wouldn’t have been his first suggestion.

That would have been ‘run and tell Scott.’

“Keep anyone from stumbling on them?” Corey asked, receiving a nod from Theo.

“I agree.” Mason said, walking towards one and picking it up.

Nothing happened.

Relieved, Liam plucked each of the crystals off of or out of the ground and lifted them in a contained orbit to hover around him. He tried to yank the crystals from the trees, but neither his abilities nor his fingers could get enough grip to lever the right force. The others all tried, Corey even going so far as to try and phase it out of the tree, but they failed too.

“Whatever,” Theo grumbled. “At least no one else will be able to get to them either.” With the six crystals orbiting Liam, the four of them made their way back to Liam’s house. He called Scott on the way and summarized what they’d found.

“There is something bigger going on, guys.” The four of them exchanged uneasy glances at Scott’s statement. “Lydia screamed. The news is reporting an attack in downtown San Francisco. Twelve people were killed by a rock falling from the sky and hurling crystals into their chests.

“Hold on, Stiles is calling me.” Liam let the phone fall away from his ear. Mason closed his eyes, and Liam would bet he was scanning the minds of everyone he could reach from the car.

“Guys, what if…” Corey trailed off, looking at Theo. “What if a crystal stabbing someone in the heart does the same as Theo’s heart being destroyed after being stabbed?”

“You mean making them a super-powered vampire?”

“I’m not a vampire!”

“Yes, that’s what I mean. Dude, you drank blood when you first woke up.”

“Liam, you there?” Scott’s voice coming from the phone interrupted them. Liam lifted the phone back up and responded.

“Yeah, I’m here. Theo, Mason, and Corey are with me too.”

“Stiles said it’s happening all over the country, possibly the world. Crystals dropped from the sky all at the same time and are attacking people and pets.”

“They’re attacking trees too. The one we found hit three trees, the rest were just on the ground.”

“You guys have the most experience with the crystals; do you have any idea what’s happening?”

“No. The signal that Theo’s been hearing went nuts right before the crystals we grabbed appeared, but that’s all we know. Mason’s been trying to communicate with them, but the ones we have aren’t talking.”

“Wait…What?” Oh, right. They hadn’t told Scott that Mason could communicate with the crystals, after a fashion.

“They’re supernatural. Sort of. It’s complicated. There’s weird physics, and dark matter, and human souls involved.”

“I…Okay. Could you guys come to my place? I want to have a pack meeting.” Theo was already turning the truck before Scott finished the question. Scott’s place wasn’t far from his, but they had been going the wrong way.

“We’ll be there soon.”

“Thanks, we’ll talk more once everyone arrives. I don’t want to make Mason explain twice.” Liam hung up, but he hadn’t even put his phone away when it buzzed again. Three other buzzing sounds met his ears, and they exchanged nods before Corey pulled his phone out too.

“It’s a national alert,” he read aloud. “Return Home as soon as possible. Await further instruction. Do not approach any UFOs or crystals in your area.”

“Guys.” Mason’s voice was tense, drawing their gazes.

His eyes were glowing red.

“Guys, I made contact. I…they-“

A guttural roar left his throat, and Liam screamed at the speed with which everything changed.

Mason’s fist exploded with fur and spikes, driving into Corey’s chest so hard the chimera was hurled through the back of the truck.

“Mason!” Another fist came flying toward him, but he managed to throw up a shield.

His head throbbed and his nose immediately began bleeding with the strain of maintaining the shield.

Theo swore, slamming on the breaks and trying to control the truck amidst the chaos. It was a futile effort though, as some…tentacle, or tail, covered in spikes swept him out of the car, breaking through the locks on the door.

Giving it up for lost, Liam ripped the roof of the truck open and launched himself out of the new sunroof. With a herculean burst of will, he crumpled the truck around his best friend in the hopes of containing whatever the hell he’d turned into long enough to see to his other friends.

Theo was already lifting himself to his feet, but Corey…

Corey was laying in the road a couple hundred feet back, right where he landed.

They were on a fairly busy street, and there were now cars backed up to the last intersection. Some people were recording with their phones, others were clearly trying to connect to someone.

Hopefully the police.

Ignoring them all, Liam hurtled toward Corey. He had to force down a sob when he landed.

Corey was very clearly dead. His face was mangled, and his chest had massive holes and gashes torn through it. Glass was littered everywhere, and there was no heartbeat.

If he was already dead, he wouldn’t heal.

Unless…

Praying it wouldn’t make things worse – not that it could get much worse than death – Liam decided to replicate the wound that brought Theo back to life. The crystals attacking people had targeted hearts, right? Theo had been shot in the heart, and came back a few days later.

It had to work.

A horrible metallic grinding sound reached him, and he knew he was out of time. Flicking his claws out, he drove his hand into Corey’s chest, ignoring the horrible feeling of driving his hand through ribs and flesh. Then, hopeful that he’d done the right kind of damage, Liam turned to face the thing his best friend had become.

A monstrous, furred and spiked beast tore its way free of Theo’s ruined truck. Screams broke out behind him, and Liam was gratified to hear all the people abandoning their cars and running away.

“I called the Sheriff, Scott and Parrish are on their way!” A voice yelled out, receding as the owner ran away. Liam was mystified that some random person knew enough about them to bother relaying that. Maybe the Sheriff had told them to say that as they ran?

He was out of time to think about it.

Mason leaped free of the car, easily jumping ten feet into the air and then sprinting toward him. He thrust himself forward, imagined driving his fist into Mason’s muzzle. Mason rocked sideways, but kept coming. He shielded just in time for Mason’s spiked claw to crash into him, sending him flying. Liam yanked himself up into the air to try to avoid any structural damage to the buildings around them.

As he was reorienting himself, he watched as Theo drove a massive hammer down on Mason’s head. The monster crashed into the asphalt, destroying it and leaving a huge crater. The hammer disappeared and Theo dove toward Mason. Amid rubble and dust, he could make out the monster rising from the damage to meet Theo head on. Theo spawned his new claws and met Mason blow for blow, occasionally letting Mason’s blows connect with a shield.

Liam flew forward, deciding to keep out of reach of Mason’s massive bestial swings. Theo was thrown away by a blow, so he made his move while Mason was distracted. Putting as much force behind the thought as he could manage, Liam hurled Mason straight into the air.

The monster rocketed upward with a snarl-yelp, and Liam envisioned an elastic band stretching tighter and tighter the further away Mason got. By the time he couldn’t see more than a spec, Liam relaxed his upward force and put it all behind the power in his mental slingshot.

It sounded like a cannon as Mason soared by him and smashed into the ground. A shockwave blew out from the impact, shattering the windows of every store and car within a hundred feet.

He really hoped he hadn’t just killed his best friend too.

For several seconds, alarms from the cars and stores were the only sound. Liam descended cautiously, shield in place in case Mason was still rampaging. A thought generated a force to blow the dust and debris away, revealing a crater ten feet deep in the asphalt. Broken rebar and concrete littered the crater, but at the bottom he could just make out fur and spikes.

Then they dissolved.

It reminded him of the Marvel Endgame movie, when Thanos snapped and turned everyone into dust. The spikes just turned into pixels and blew away. Debris collapsed further as the mass holding them up disappeared.

Mason was gone.

Fire and rage and pain burned through his gut, and it took all of his will not to scream and destroy everything else in sight.

Not again.

It had been bad enough with Theo, and he got better.

Corey was probably dead too, but he also might get better. Hopefully.

But Mason…

He jumped at a hand on his shoulder.

Theo was beside him, looking battered but in perfect working condition. The hand on his shoulder was his, and while it was startling at first it now felt like it was holding his world up.

“Liam. Liam!” He blinked, registering that Theo was trying to say words. He shook his head and forced away the repeating image of hurling his best friend to his death. Claws pierced his shoulder, and he hissed in pain.

“Fuck, what!?”

“I don’t think he’s dead.”

What.

“What?”

“I’m not sure, but I…I have an urge to ‘find it.’ But I don’t know what ‘it’ is. Just…you have better control with telekinesis than I do. Lift up everything in the hole and separate it out.”

He latched onto Theo’s words like a lifeline. The simple ‘I don’t think he’s dead’ was all he needed to hear. He’d never done anything like this before, but it shouldn’t be too difficult with his new orbit technique.

Liam envisioned a point amidst the rubble, and generated a swirling field around it. He added more and more strength to its pull, and stretched it into an upward funnel. Dust and debris swirled from the hole like a reverse tornado. Once no more dust lifted from the hole, he leaned over to check the bottom.

Only solid rock and rough walls remained.

Turning his attention to the swirling vortex of broken street, he expanded the orbit.

“Grab the chunks.” He instructed, then weakened the pull of the central point until it would begin dropping bigger chunks of rock and asphalt. Theo listened magnificently, as detritus floated gently back into the hole instead of dropping straight down onto shops or cars. He expanded the cloud further until it stretched far enough that he would lose it if he expanded it anymore. He weakened the pull the entire time, leaving more and more broken debris for Theo to catch and redirect into the hole.

A glint of red caught his attention.

It also seemed to catch Theo’s, since a second later it was hurtling toward them like a rocket. It stopped a foot away from Theo’s face.

“This is it. You can drop the rest.” He tightened the vortex until the remaining cloud compressed into a sphere less than a foot across, then dropped it into the hole. He turned to Theo and registered the thing hovering in front of his face.

It was a crystal.

Different than the blue crystals in his pocket, however, this crystal was a vibrant red. It was also jagged, like several crystals had grown from a single point. It actually looked a lot like the outline of the image they saw in Theo’s CT scan. Its core was a deep, blood red. From that core projected several crystal spikes. The two largest opposed each other like poles, while the rest varied in size and projected in a loose sphere from the center.

“Why is it red?” he asked, unable to process much of anything at the moment. He was doing his all to not think about two of his best friends being dead.

“I don’t know. I think it’s active, whereas the ones you have aren’t. Mason couldn’t hear them, but he could hear the ones inside me. I’d bet money the thing in my heart looks exactly like this.”

He almost began crying when Theo said Mason’s name. The hand on his shoulder squeezed, pulling him back.

“Hey. It’ll be alright. I think…I think we’re gonna test that ‘I can’t die’ theory. Just…Not in the way we expected. Did you get Corey?” That almost brought another round of tears, but he held them in. Taking a deep breath, he nodded.

Corey would recover. He had to, because _when_ Mason got better, Corey had to be there too or his best friend would never forgive himself.

“He was already dead.” He held up his fist, which still had Corey’s dried blood all over it. “I crushed his heart, hoping the same thing that happened to you happens to him.”

“They’ll be okay, Liam. They will. You should go grab Corey, so that when Scott arrives with the police I can tell them what happened and then we can leave.”

The sound of sirens reached them then, so Liam hastened to follow Theo’s instructions. He pulled Corey’s limp form from where it lay on the ground, levitating it next to him as the ambulance screamed to a halt a few yards from the broken ground.

“Hey, Courtland.” Theo greeted the paramedic that jumped from the ambulance. He didn’t know how, but Liam had forgotten that Theo was able to pass his EMT certification and got a job with the local AMT.

“Raeken. What’s the status?” he shook his head in response.

“Liam and I are fine. The only casualties are these two, but they’re like us so we hope they’ll recover.”

“Anyone in the shops injured? Cars?”

“I can’t hear anyone left in cars, but there are some people in the shops. It would be good to check on them.” The paramedic nodded, pointed her companion toward a store, and then ran to a shop on the other side of the street.

The police – and Scott on his motorbike – arrived before the paramedics had even reached the stores.

“Liam!” Scott slid to a stop and grabbed him in a hug. “You’re okay. Corey?” Liam crushed the hurt that tried rising up. Corey would be fine. He would!

“We…we think he’ll be like Theo.”

“Where’s Mason?” He couldn’t restrain his flinch this time. He turned his face away, staring hard at Theo’s shoulder. Scott’s gaze followed, and he was glad that Theo decided to answer.

“We’re hoping he’s going to be like me too.” He shifted the crystal still hovering, drawing Scott’s attention to it. “I have one of these inside me. Mason seemed to think that as long as it remained intact, I couldn’t die. So we’re hoping he’s the same.”

“But why does he have one of those at all? He was human!” Theo shrugged.

“Something happened as soon as we got off the phone with you. He said he ‘made contact’ and then he went berserk and shifted into a giant monster. Worse than La Bête.”

The Sheriff approached them, looking wary but not afraid. He took an official statement from Theo, and didn’t bother editing it to seem more mundane. They were definitely beyond that. Sure, everyone in town _knew_ about the supernatural, but for many of them this was probably their first time seeing it so obviously. It took a few minutes for Theo to accurately explain everything that happened, but finally the Sheriff closed his notepad and set a gentle hand on Liam’s shoulder.

“Come on, son. Why don’t we take Corey and Mason somewhere safer to recover. Everything will be alright.” Liam nodded. They should leave. If they recovered like Theo had, they would freak out and might break things. It would be better to not have them in public when they recovered.

Because they _would_ recover.

They had to.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So! For those who aren't familiar with Dark Matter theory in real life, I'll summarize it. Scientists have done some weird math regarding the universe and galaxies, and they've found movement patterns that indicate everything being a lot heavier than what we can detect allows. So basically they hypothesize that something (ie Dark Matter) exists throughout the universe, which we can't see, but that has a physical affect on galaxies and shit. It's more complicated than that, but I am neither a physicist nor an astronomer. If you want to get into it, go to wikipedia or youtube, there are some cool articles about it.  
> This relates to the 'frequencies' that was mentioned relating to the Dread Doctors. I'v decided that the 'supernatural frequency' that was mentioned in canon is actually the metaphysical frequency of Dark Matter. It's out of phase with regular matter, which is why we can't see or feel it.  
> A reminder of Corey's powers from seasons 5 and 6: he can turn invisible. The Dread Doctors could still see him, and he could see the Ghost Riders (season 6a bad guys). I'm tweaking the general head-canon though, and stating that COREY doesn't actually change. He generates a fine field that shifts light out of the regular spectrum and into the supernatural frequency. That way light flows through him and he appears invisible, but it also still interacts with the supernatural parts of him, allowing him to see other supernatural entities that might otherwise be invisible. His ability to phase through things come when he shifts the frequency of his own body into that of Dark Matter, making him not interact with whatever regular matter he's avoiding.  
> Druids are normal humans who can use their dark-energy-entity (ie their soul) to interact with the dark energy and matter hanging around earth.   
> Mountian ash is a transmission vector that druids can use to restrict the motion of dark matter, which is why werewolves and other supernatural beings can't pass through a mountain ash barrier.
> 
> Hopefully you guys enjoyed this chapter! As always, feel free to ask any questions you may have! if they're not revealed later or spoilery, I'll do my best to answer!


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this chapter is an intermediate, setting up for the rest of the fic. It's not TERRIBLY exciting, but lots of world building and power explorations.  
> For my friends who haven't seen Teen Wolf, I mention Allison a couple times. She was Scott's' first love interest through seasons 1-3, Lydia's best friend, and Argent's daughter. She died before season 4, and while Teen Wolf has done a fair amount of necromancy, none of it brought her back. She's not super important in this fic, obviously.

_Wake. Rage. Consume._

The sensations running through his soul were not words. They were impulses, desires echoing to his mind from the deepest recesses of his being.

But why?

He had felt urges like this before. It almost felt like, if he opened his eyes, the eyes of The Beast would open instead.

As soon as the thought registered, he felt it. The Beast of Gevaudan rose within him, feeling and instinct and rage.

_Intruders. Eliminate. Destroy._

Somehow, he reached out. Or The Beast reached out. The monster was too deeply ingrained within him, and he couldn’t tell the difference. They reached out into the void of his soul and took hold of…Another presence? Another something. There were three of them in this empty darkness of feeling and thought, but he couldn’t tell where one of them ended and the other began. They were so deeply intertwined as to be a single being. The third part of them struggled, tried to assert itself. It tried to push them away, to destroy and consume them. They _twisted_ and there was a sharp sound, like shattering glass.

Then he was free.

Mason opened his eyes and a film of red receded almost before he could register its presence.

“Mason?”

_Mason’s awake?_

_Mason!_

_Dude, get up Mason woke up!_

_Corey, Mason’s awake!_

Voices echoed all around him, bouncing around the mental plane while only one registered with his ears.

“Calm down guys, I’m alright.”

Silence filled his mind after his announcement before the voices returned with a vengeance.

_Mason!_

_Dude! I heard you!_

_Mason you’re in my head!_

_I’m so glad you’re alive._

He honed in on the last voice, recognizing it as belonging to Corey.

“Hey, Mason, you alright?” He looked up, pulling out of his mental observations, to focus on Theo. He was alone with the chimera, but he could sense the rest of the pack waiting around the house. He recognized the room as the guest room in Scott’s house.

He wondered where his parents were. What did they think happened to him?

What did happen to him?

The last thing he remembered…

Mason cast his mind back, searching his memories for the last thing he remembered. They had found the crystals in the Preserve. They were on their way to meet up with Scott. He closed his eyes to…What had he been doing? Trying to read someone’s mind? Search for something?

The crystals in the Preserve were silent. He was trying to talk to them. Or whatever sent them. Had he found out from where they came?

“I don’t remember what happened.” Theo eyed him warily, before saying simply:

“You said ‘I made contact’ and then you…uh. You freaked out. Turned into…” he waved a hand, gesturing to all of Mason. “…this. Liam and I…had to kill you. We hoped you would recover, like we thought I would. Corey…Corey also died, but he got better too.”

The words echoed around him, and it was hard to make sense of them. So much was contained in so few sentences!

He dropped his head to cradle it in his hand and was met with a gigantic, spiked claw. He yelped and lurched backward, crashing into the wall.

“Mason! It’s alright!” he froze at Theo’s words, holding himself still so he wouldn’t break anything else. Looking down, he saw that he was…furry. And huge.

What did he look like?

Theo was watching him carefully, so Mason reached out and allowed Theo’s vision to slide on top of his own.

He was a monster. He looked like La Bête, but worse. There were gleaming black spikes protruding from his claws and arms. Thick, chitinous fibers filled the space between spikes like some bastard fur. His head was a terrifying blend of lupine and human; he had a muzzle filled with inch-long fangs, his eyes and crown were humanoid, but with rigid spiky shells protecting ears that resembled a wolf’s. Spikes protruded from his head like a crown.

His whole body was like someone had taken The Beast and fused him with spikes and protective plates, then melted random parts of him back to his original human form.

“I’m horrifying.”

_So change back._

He startled at the impression. Something tickled his memory, like he had heard this not-voice before. It came from inside him. Theo was saying something, but Mason was too preoccupied to notice.

There were voices echoing inside him like a sports stadium. There were no words, only impressions. Feelings. Desires. Honing his focus to just a few, he was able to make out what they were saying.

_Shift. Feast. Grow. Protect._

The impressions had an identical tone to those he had heard in Theo! He would recognize the crystal-voices anywhere now, and they were inside him!

Mason lifted his monstrous hand in front of his face. Locating the crystals there – all of them, thousands or tiny voices – he projected his thoughts in a command to them.

 _Change me back_.

His arm glowed slightly before shifting. Spikes and fur dissolved into the air as motes of darkness. His muscles writhed and shrunk. His skin faded from jet-black to its normal cocoa color. His claws dissolved last, leaving blunt human fingers behind.

The crystal in his chest barked commands and urges through the whole process, and Mason was able to pick up a few that recurred the most.

_Translate. Restore. Regenerate. Destroy. Gentle._

Mason repeated the process with his left arm, then his legs. He paid close attention to what was happening with all of the tiny little voices inside him. By the time his legs were back to normal, he felt like he could control the shifts on his own without issuing commands to generalized crystal areas. So he did it himself, dissolving the excess features remaining on his torso and head. Spikes were destroyed and translated back to dark matter. Hair was gentled and smoothed. Torn flesh was regenerated and his original form was restored.

He looked up and saw Theo staring at him with wide eyes. Mason realized he was completely naked and pulled the sheet over his lap. That got a startled chuckle from Theo.

“I’m not gonna lie, that was really impressive.” He was still a little shocked, but he was covering it well. It reaffirmed that Mason liked Theo a lot more when he was privy to the thoughts and feelings the older boy always tried to conceal. The real Theo was a lot more likeable than the one he projected. Unaware of his internal musings, Theo continued. “When you regenerated in the same form as before, I was worried you would be stuck like that, or that you’d wake up and rage again and we would need to figure something else out.”

 _Can I see him now?_ He turned toward the door as Corey’s voice reached his mind. Theo turned as well, and Mason felt him reach out to turn the knob.

_Project. Control. Overwhelm._

He tuned out the crystals Theo was using to perform his telekinesis and focused on his boyfriend. Corey sprinted through the open door and crashed leaped onto the bed, crashing into him.

_You’re okay you’re okay thank god I was so worried Fuck I was so scared_

_“Hey, breathe.”_ He commanded gently, pushing the words with his voice and mind. Corey shook his head against Mason’s collarbone, but did indeed take a breath. Then another, and another, until his shaking subsided. Mason ignored the tears he felt dripping onto his chest, releasing a few himself at the overwhelming feelings. Between his own emotions and those he couldn’t help feeling from Corey, he almost couldn’t think beyond the fear and relief and joy.

“Everything’s alright. We’re okay. We’re okay, Corey.” Corey nodded before pulling away, wiping his eyes and heaving in a deep breath.

“We’re alright. Everything’s okay.”

“Well,” Theo chimed in, turning back to face them after looking away to let them have their moment. “Not everything. Actually everything’s…a little bit fucked. Get dressed, there’s some shit we need to talk about.” Theo left then, and Mason hurriedly threw on clothes left on the dresser near the bed. Corey grabbed his hand and squeezed it tightly before leading them down the stairs to learn what had been happening while they were…recovering.

Downstairs, everyone was gathered. Stiles had even flown home, and Isaac had come down from wherever he had gone back to after Monroe. Lydia was crying into Derek’s chest while Stiles stared frozen at the TV screen, hand locked on Derek’s shoulder. Nolan, Alec, Malia and Scott stood in a loose cluster near the fireplace, similarly transfixed. Liam flew from his spot on the couch to pull him into a tight hug, but let him go quickly to turn back to the TV.

On the screen there were two enormous…things tearing a skyscraper apart. They resembled metallic pterodactyls if the wings had turned into spears, and then the bodies grew another set of legs. The city around them was in ruins, fires and smoke obscuring the camera at times. Mason thought it was a scene from the new Godzilla movie, which he hadn’t seen but looked pretty entertaining. He couldn’t figure out why everyone seemed so shellshocked.

Then he noticed the CNN ticker at the bottom of the screen.

MONSTERS INVADE SEATTLE. CITIZENS IMPLORED TO FLEE BY ANY MEANS NECESSARY.

“Wait.” He uttered, gobsmacked. “This…”

“This is happening live, Mason.” Corey said softly. His hand squeezed Mason’s, and he squeezed back. He couldn’t believe this. It was…it was unreal, even by their insane standards.

“They’re not the only ones.” Argent said, voice dark and serious. “Russia, Paris, and Brazil have all reported monsters appearing near radioactive sites and going on to attack nearby cities.”

“But those are freaking kaiju! Like…!” He flailed his free hand toward the TV, unable to even process that this was reality. How did the monsters even get that size? Nothing on Earth grew that big! Argent answered as though Mason had asked that question out loud.

“We think it has to do with the radiation. We’ve seen what those crystals can do with a previously-regular human,” he gestured toward Mason, “So with the massive energy increase, and the mutagenic effects? It’s not a huge stretch.”

Mason nodded, able to accept it for now. The idea made as much sense as anything else, considering freaking movie monsters were trashing Seattle!

“So we think some crystals landed in radioactive sites and hit animals living there or nearby?”

“Or animals that got hit wandered into radioactive areas. Or who knows, maybe the radiation on its own was enough for the crystals to turn into those creatures.” Mason knew that last part wasn’t really a viable option, because the crystals needed to be able to act on something biological. Maybe they could react with dirt or metal, but the crystals in the forest hadn’t done anything to the earth they landed in. He didn’t say anything though, because it didn’t matter enough just then.

Speaking of the crystals they brought back from the forest…

“Have the crystals we collected done anything?” Corey turned and looked at Liam and Theo, who both shook their heads. Stiles turned away from the TV and jumped in.

“Apparently the people who got killed by the crystals came back to life though. Agent McCall said most of them were basically fine, but some went nuts and started mutating and attacking people. The ones who weren’t okay…They did a lot of damage before getting away. Police weren’t able to subdue any of them.” Mason closed his eyes and exhaled.

That was heavy. There had apparently been crystals in a lot of populated areas…He wondered how many people got hit? How many transformed into monsters? If they had been anything like he was…he could understand why no one had been able to deal with them.

“I think we should use the crystals.” Everyone turned to look at Parish. The hellhound bore a serious expression, glaring at the TV like he could burn the kaiju with the force of his will. No one said anything. How were they supposed to react to a statement like that? Mason could think of several reasons it would be a good idea, but he could also think of several for the opposite. The most pressing reason against using the crystals was that they didn’t _really_ understand them. Mason thought he did, a little, but not enough to risk stabbing his friends in the chest with them!

Parish turned from the TV and let his eyes wander over all of them. Still no one spoke, and Mason confirmed that they were all locked in the same internal debate he was.

“I’ll go first, if that would make anyone feel better. I think whatever is happening is only going to get worse. We need to be prepared to protect ourselves and the town. These crystals gave Liam’s pack incredible abilities that are fully under their control now. You guys have six more crystals? Go grab one. We’ll stab me right now.”

“Parish, I don’t know…“ The Sheriff tried to make an argument, but he trailed off. He knew was Parish was right, was the difficult thing. Mason knew it too; caution over the unknown was too weak an excuse when everything was so immediately dire. Seattle wasn’t very far from them, geographically speaking. If those monsters turned their attention southward, or if others appeared closer to home…

“I think we should stab you in the gut, first.” Everyone turned to him, and he felt agreement projected to him from Theo. What a day, when he and Theo agreed that stabbing someone was the right way to go. He felt questions popping up, so he forestalled them. “It won’t kill him, even if it goes wrong. If the same thing that happened to us happens to him, then he’ll get some relatively minor powers. They might even be unique to him since he’s a hellhound. It’ll only take a few hours before we know. Then, after a day or two of honing whatever abilities that gets him, we should pull a Theo and stab him in the heart.”

“I think,” Chris broke in after he finished, “That we should stab me in the heart from the get go.” A few voices raised immediate protest, but he held up a hand. “It’s a good idea. It’ll give us an idea of how these transformations work; if I don’t get telepathy, then we’ll know that the crystals give different abilities before death than after it.”

“But what if you go berserk?” Melissa’s voice was fearful. Chris took her hand and looked her in the eye.

“Then the boys can do what they did with Mason.” She didn’t like that answer at all. Mason didn’t either, but he knew it was probably as good as they could come up with.

“I want to get hit too. Right in the heart.” Scott stated firmly. “It’ll be the same kind of test as with Chris. We know what happens when a typical werewolf gets hit elsewhere.”

“We should also complete my transition, I guess.” Liam said, although he wasn’t particularly excited about it. He was resolved, though. If no one agreed, he knew he could do it himself. Mason looked at Theo though, and knew the older boy would never let Liam do it on his own. Mason just nodded at them.

“I want in too.” Lydia’s voice was wet, and small, but only Parish had shown as much resolve.

“Lydia, no!” She just turned and glared at Stiles. Mason winced at the vitriol in Lydia’s mind, and Stiles winced too. He knew what the girl must have been thinking at him. Stiles shrank, and nodded his head, argument over without even starting. He slunk forward and pressed his forehead against her shoulder and she turned to face the rest of the room fully.

“I want the full treatment though. Gut shot, like Parish. I’m a banshee, so we should do this as thoroughly as we can.”

That left two spare crystals, but no one else seemed too keen on being stabbed by mysterious rocks.

Theo spoke into the silence.

“Then we’re agreed, for now. We’ll have two spares to use later. Corey and I recovered in two days, so let’s stab everyone now. Parish, Lydia, you two should black out for a couple hours and then be fine and able to use whatever powers you get. Liam, Chris and Scott will be out for a couple days.” He looked at Parish and Lydia, and spoke in between them. “We’ll work on your new powers while the others recover, and then once they’re awake and in hand we’ll finish your transformations.” Everyone involved nodded. Melissa shed a few tears and hugged Chris tightly, but didn’t object.

The Sheriff wanted to object. He wanted to so badly, as did Stiles. Both of them knew it was the best course of action.

Crystals surprised everyone but Mason and Theo by floating down the stairs and hovering in the room. One hovered in front of each of Chris, Scott, Lydia, and Parish. They turned to look at Theo, who traded intense looks with each of them.

Parish squared his shoulders, grabbed his crystal, and drove it into his own gut.

Melissa screamed, not ready for the sudden violent action despite it being part of their plan.

Lydia nodded, and Theo directed the crystal into her gut as well. She crumpled to the ground with a sharp cry, curling around her wound. Parish let himself fall to his knees.

“Fuck.” He muttered, then both of them passed out.

It was just like when Liam, Theo, Corey and he first found the crystals in the forest.

“You guys ready? Theo asked Chris and Scott. They both nodded. Malia positioned herself behind Scott, prepared to catch him. Isaac moved to Chris’ side for the same reason.

Theo drove the crystals into their chests. Mason winced at the sound of cracking ribs and tearing flesh, but didn’t move.

“You ready, Liam?” Theo turned to the werewolf, who was definitely scared. He nodded though, and puffed out his chest. Theo whispered in his ear, and Mason felt embarrassed for intruding with his telepathy. “I’ll take care of you. You’ll be fine.”

A spike appeared in the air and dove into Liam’s chest. Mason clenched his eyes shut and tightened his grip around Corey’s hand. Theo caught Liam as he fell, released the spike he’d created, and lowered Mason’s best friend to the ground.

Melissa was sobbing in the kitchen.

“I really hope this didn’t just fuck everything up even worse.” The thought left his lips unbidden, and he winced when a pebble appeared from nowhere and pelted him in the head.

“It’ll all be fine.” Theo stated firmly. “They’ll all be up and peachy in a couple days, and then we’ll kick some kaiju ass.”

Mason had to believe that was true. But they had a few hours to just sit around, and repeating ‘it’ll work, it has to work’ over and over again in his head would drive him insane. He turned to Corey and flicked briefly through thoughts over the last day. He was looking for any new powers, or efforts made to discover new powers. When he found none, most of Corey’s thoughts sweetly consumed with worry over him, he figured they could distract themselves that way.

“Hey, Corey.” He addressed, turning to face his boyfriend. “Wanna figure out what powers you have now?” Mason smirked when Corey’s eyes widened, his boyfriend realizing he had completely forgotten it was a possibility.

“Yes!” He was just as eager for a distraction as Mason. Theo waved them off when he turned to offer that he join them; he was going to attend to Melissa while lowkey obsessing over Liam. As Mason and Corey turned to go outside, Theo began lifting the not-dead people around the house so they could be more comfortable when they woke up.

Outside, Corey turned to face Mason.

“Okay, how do we do this?” Mason shrugged, but figured they could do the same thing he had done to help Theo.

“Use your powers for a few minutes. I’m going to listen to your crystals and see what guidance they can give.” Corey nodded, and immediately turned invisible. Over the next few minutes he became visible again, shifted back to invisibility, walked through a few trees, and used both powers in several combinations.

The crystals inside him were oddly uninvolved in the process. There were some minor impulses whenever Corey phased through the trees, but when he was invisible there was no discernable noise.

Delving deeper, Mason began searching for the core facets of the core in Corey’s heart. He had only heard Theo’s heart crystal before. With the exception of the powerful ‘protect’ impression coming from the majority of his heart crystals, Corey’s was nothing like it. Theo’s had fairly simple impressions that translated easily to words in Mason’s mind. Corey’s crystal projected concepts that Mason didn’t have words for, and could hardly even comprehend.

“What’s up?” He broke free of his delving when Corey spoke to him. “You look frustrated.”

He explained everything he had failed to learn, but instead of looking put out, Corey just tilted his head.

“Can you show me?”

Show him?

“I can only read thoughts, Corey.” His boyfriend just lifted an eyebrow and shook his head.

“You talked to me in my mind this morning, when you first woke up.” Mason opened his mouth to respond, but then he realized…he had. He had spoken aloud, but everyone downstairs had heard him in their minds too.

Thinking about speaking into Corey’s mind, he gave it a shot.

_Can you hear me?_

Corey’s face lit up in a grin.

_I can!_

With that basic mechanism established, Mason decided to try acting as a conduit for Corey. Maybe he could delve into the crystal, and then let the impressions flow directly into Corey’s mind instead of actively projecting them.

He explained what he wanted to do, Corey nodded, and Mason gave it a shot. He let the impressions and concepts from the crystal flood his mind. It was confusing, and borderline meaningless, but Mason didn’t need to understand it to relay it. While listening, he reached out to Corey’s mind and focused on simply pushing everything he saw and heard, exactly as it came to him, into Corey’s mind.

Surprise filled Corey’s thoughts, and then he was gone.

Mason blinked as the connection snapped, startled back into his own head.

Corey was on the other side of the yard.

“Holy shit that worked!” Mason flicked through his thoughts to see what had happened, and blanched.

“You teleported!” Corey nodded, a bright grin on his face.

Then he was in front of Mason. He couldn’t help startling, even though he’d registered the intent before his boyfriend moved.

“Can you do that again?” Corey asked. “There was something else in there that looked interesting, but I was distracted by the easy teleporting thing.”

“How do you do that, by the way? I couldn’t make heads or tails of what the crystals were projecting!” Corey hummed for a second, ordering his thoughts.

“I really don’t know. It just…kinda made sense? Like when I phase through things, I just kinda…shift my atoms into the supernatural frequency, I guess? It’s a lot more instinctive, but I think that’s what happens at the root of it.”

That all made sense to Mason.

“For teleporting…I guess I kinda…take it a step further. I shift frequencies, but then I’m less physical, so I can just…move. I guess. Or space doesn’t bend the same way, and I can just twist and be somewhere else.” He supposed that made sense as well. It wasn’t quite as intuitive, and now it made sense why he couldn’t comprehend what the crystals were trying to convey. Nothing Mason had ever learned about science or magic would have made him think of that!

“So you ready for the next thing?” Corey nodded, and Mason reestablished the connection between Corey and his crystal core. This time Corey managed to convey a direction he wanted Mason to explore, which was bizarre. Never before in his mind reading had he received input from anyone else about how to explore, and it threw him for a loop. He had to refocus before he could actually manage to find the impressions that Corey wanted.

Corey observed for a few moments, before Mason felt a mental nod and pulled his senses away. His boyfriend turned away from him and Mason felt him focusing. Corey reached out and…did something. The air twisted and formed a perfect circle. The edges were blurry and warped, like the light distortion around black holes from old theoretical images.

The circle of air looked out onto somewhere else.

The circle was still in the air, just sitting there. It seemed to Mason like he should see trees on the other side of the circle.

Instead he saw Corey’s house.

Mason looked over at his boyfriend, and saw the boy standing there with a bright grin on his face. Corey flexed…whatever he was using to make the circle, and it expanded until it touched the ground and would be wide enough to step through.

Corey then did step through it, turned, and gestured for Mason to come through as well.

He hesitated, but decided to trust Corey. It looked like a portal. It was just a hole in the air that led to Corey’s house. Nothing scary about that.

He stepped through, and was standing in Coreys’ yard. There was no drama, no explosions. No one died, he hadn’t been splinched. He had just…stepped through a hole in the air to somewhere else.

Corey wore the biggest grin he had seen all day.

“I can teleport and make portals.” Corey said softly. Mason couldn’t help the infectious grin that stretched across his own face at his boyfriend’s glee. Neither could he help the urge to step forward, grab said boyfriend and pull him into a kiss. Corey eagerly responded, and they wound up making out in his front yard for several minutes before a car honked at them.

They both leaped into the air, startled back into reality. Corey flipped off the driver as they got further away, and Mason laughed. Now though, he wanted to spend the remaining time they had before Lydia and Parish woke up with his boyfriend.

 _Your room?_ He projected into Corey’s mind. Wide eyes and a grin met him as Corey’s head whipped away from the retreating car. He nodded and reached out, opening another portal. This one opened right in Corey’s room, and Mason laughed and rolled his eyes.

Because why not?

***

Just as they’d hoped, Lydia and Parish woke up first. Their wounds were gone, and so were the crystals. Melissa checked them over, performing every test she could think of without proper medical equipment, but finally decided they were as healthy as they could be.

“Can either of you hear thoughts?” Both of them paused, heads cocked to listen, and then shook their heads ‘no.’ Mason peered into them, listening for the voices of the crystals. As with Liam though, there was nothing to be heard. He could only hear the crystals after they had zombified them, or whatever he, Theo and Corey had become.

“I can hear…something.” Lydia said softly. Everyone focused on her, but remained silent. “Not voices. Well, not your voices. It’s like…” her eyes widened. Mason’s followed suit once he read her realization from her mind. “It’s like when I predict a death. I’m hearing the voices of the dead.”

The Sheriff shook his head.

“I can’t even be an atheist anymore.” Theo chuckled in response, earning a glare.

“You can be an atheist. Just because God doesn’t exist doesn’t mean souls and demons and hell don’t.” The Sheriff wanted to argue, but he just shook his head again.

“I wonder…” Parish trailed off, looking at his hand.

_They all got powers similar to those they had before. Well, Theo and Liam didn’t, but their powers weren’t unfitting of their supernatural forms. Coyotes were known as tricksters, Theo got illusions. Telekinesis is just strength, but projected. So maybe…_

Mason kept listening to the man’s thoughts, approving of their direction. Parish’s eyes glowed their ghastly orange, and flames sprung up on his hand. That wasn’t anything new, but Mason gasped as they changed.

The fire leaped away from Parish’s skin, hovering in the air as a little burning ball. It shifted, becoming a fiery wolf and running around the man’s head. His nose began bleeding, and when he noticed it the wolf dispersed into the air.

“So Parish is a pyromaniac, and Lydia hears dead people.” Theo’s voice was its usual sarcastic drawl, but Mason knew he was fascinated. _I wonder how that will change after they die?_

Once they were sure Parish wasn’t going to burn something down, and that Lydia wasn’t going to become catatonic from all the new voices, everyone had only to wait with baited breath for the others to wake up. Melissa roped Dr. Geyer into the loop and they managed to acquire several blood bags. Inexplicably, neither Mason nor Corey had needed them like Theo had but no one was willing to bet that Theo would be the outlier.

Especially considering the number of casualties that resulted from affected people who went berserk sometime after transforming. By the second day, Agent McCall was still reporting new people who had been hit by a crystal and then frenzied sometime after waking up.

Seattle was left a smoldering ruin, and the kaiju-creatures began moving East. Mason felt bad that his dominant emotion was relief at not having to fight them in the immediate future.

The morning of the second day, Mason was awoken by a phone call from Theo.

“Liam’s awake. He’s fine.” He shot up, body tensed and primed to scream a demand for more details, at Theo’s first words. His muscles fell lax with relief immediately though, and he cursed softly to himself. The drama woke Corey up, and he relayed the information. Corey’s eyes lit up, and then a pair of pants flew across the room and smacked Mason in the face.

The second Mason pulled his shirt down over his head, Corey twisted a hole in the air and they walked through it into the McCall’s living room.

“That is so fucking cool I can’t believe you were serious!” Liam’s voice had Mason whirling in place. His best friend came into view as Corey banished the portal, and he hurled himself at Liam as soon as it was gone.

“You’re okay! You’re alive!” Liam’s arms curled around him and he squeezed back, relief raging through him. “Did you freak out?” Liam shrugged and pulled away.

“I woke up swinging, but Theo was right there.” Liam fought down a blush, and Mason did his best to ignore the urge to tease him. “I calmed down, and he got me a blood bag just because. It helped remove the rest of the…urges. I haven’t felt that out of control since…” Mason flinched at the thought, but Liam said it aloud anyway. “Since Theo almost got me to kill Scott.” That was more blunt than Mason had expected.

The lack of hurt associated with that blunt statement was also unexpected. Neither Theo nor Liam felt any animosity about the memory. He had known that his best friend felt strongly toward Theo, and that he didn’t have any misconceptions about who Theo was at his core. Mason knew that, and it was the whole reason he was willing to trust Theo before he got powers and could know the chimera himself.

But knowing it and seeing horrible memories thrown around casually really brought it home for him.

It made him wonder if he and Corey had as much faith and love for each other as those two. It made him wonder if _anyone_ he knew felt that strongly about another person.

He also wondered when they would get over themselves and bone. They were clearly attracted to each other. They were obscenely devoted to one another. They had maintained eye contact while Theo shoved a spike through Liam’s heart, for god’s sake! That was some next level shit! It was only a matter of time. He was sure of it.

Scott was the next one to wake up. His heart began beating a frantic tattoo in his chest, drawing the attention of everyone who could hear it.

“Everyone step away from him. We shouldn’t be within swinging distance.” Malia grumbled, but obediently stepped away from her boyfriend. Mason reached out with his mind to observe Scott’s awakening.

It was chaos.

There was so much rage, and possession, and affront. Combatting it was hunger, and greed, and domination. It was like there were two warring beings, fighting each other with everything they had. But as his attention was thrown around by these powerful impulses, a barrage of images began to assault both of them.

Melissa. Stiles. Allison. Every single member of the pack paraded around Scott’s mind, and an overwhelming surge of love and protection rolled over all of the other feelings. Mason felt himself gasp as everything was overwhelmed by Scott’s desire and commitment to protecting his friends.

“So that’s why he’s a True Alpha.” Mason whispered as he retreated to his own mind. Theo looked at him with a raised brow, but Liam just nodded like he already understood.

Scott opened his eyes and sat up. He looked around at everyone, eyes blazing red. As soon as he made eye contact with everyone gathered, his eyes lost their intensity and he relaxed. Malia raced forward and he slumped into her side.

“I’m alright. I’m fine, I’m good. Great. I feel great.”

“Do you need a blood bag?” Scott’s eyes flared briefly, but he took a deep breath and thought. Mason felt the rejection form almost immediately, but Scott gave it serious consideration regardless. He shook his head.

“No, I’m alright. We should save it for when someone really needs it.”

Right on cue, Chris woke with a gasp. Mason had been so focused on Scott he missed it, but no one missed when he lunged for the nearest person.

Corey was suddenly there, grabbing him by the throat and slamming him to the floor. Chris lashed out, but Corey was gone again. By the time Chris tried attacking again, Liam and Theo had taken hold of him with telekinesis and were holding him restrained and suspended in the air. Melissa lobbed a blood bag into the air toward Chris. Liam grabbed it with his mind, popped a hole in it, sucked the blood out and forced it down Chris’ unwilling throat.

Almost immediately the man began to calm. His mind was still a mess though; Mason felt the same hungry, domineering urges overwhelming the man’s better nature. It probably didn’t help that they were latching onto instincts and training ingrained in Chris for most of his life and driving him to act on them.

 _Chris. Everything’s alright._ He projected into the man’s mind. _You are stronger than the crystals. Focus on what keeps you moving. Think about what you fight for every day._

_Nous protègons ceux qui ne peuvent pas se protèger eux-měmes._

Allison was a constant figure floating over Argent’s psyche while visions of monsters tearing people apart flickered through his mind. Kaiju razed Seattle to the ground. Monroe rallied a mob against Mason’s friends. At first he thought these would all be counterproductive to fighting off the rage and hunger of the crystal, but Chris soon began to calm himself. The rage and hunger warped with Chris’ will and crystalized. They didn’t fade into the background like they had with Scott, but they aligned themselves with the man’s will and bolstered his own feelings.

Chris took in a deep breath.

 _He’s alright_.

He projected the thought to Liam, who nodded in response. Theo caught the action and made assumptions, which Mason had to admit were scarily accurate. He always forgot how intuitive and intelligent Theo really was. The boys lowered Chris to his feet, and the man stood there breathing for a moment before opening his eyes.

“So now we understand why the casualty rate has been so high. That was…a lot.”

“It’s almost like feeling the full moon for the first time.” Scott stated, pulling Chris’ attention. “The rage and hunger felt almost overwhelming. It didn’t help that I could feel the werewolf part of me raging just as hard.” Chris stared hard at him.

“You didn’t rage.” Scott just shrugged, willing to humbly accept the statement, but Theo scoffed.

“There’s a reason Scott is the first True Alpha in two hundred years.” Chris looked at him, and Mason felt several comments flicker through the man’s mind. It was a true statement though, and rather than take it as a personal failing, he reminded himself that it was exactly why he had aligned himself with Scott. For all that he wasn’t part of Scott’s pack, Argent believed in his goodness just as strongly as the rest of them.

He nodded, and the matter was ended.

“So, Lydia’s and Parish’s turns?”

“We have to let Parish recover first.” Lydia’s response to Stiles forced-offhand comment. Several brows quirked. Lydia just shook her head, struggling with words. Mason blanched as her thoughts became clear to him.

“It’s a premonition.” He said softly. Everyone swiveled to look at him instead of Lydia. The girl allowed herself to be wrapped up by Stiles, and Mason heard a soft ‘thank you’ reach him from her jumbled thoughts. “The voices are telling her bad things will happen, but they don’t seem to really know anything.” He explained, squinting at her as he tried to parse the words and whispers running through her mind.

It was so much different than his own abilities. He heard fully-fledged voices for every thought around him. People could restrain their thoughts, but they couldn’t quiet them. Lydia was hearing whispers from everywhere. They layered on top of each other and fought for dominance, but they were all whispers. There were impressions and images too, but those were also layered on top of one another.

Mason could focus on an individual to clarify their thoughts, but Lydia didn’t seem to be able to do that with these. Perhaps with practice and meditation she would learn; he hadn’t been able to filter them out at first either.

“I think we should give Lydia a few days, or weeks.” He said firmly. “She can’t focus on the voices well enough; I think if we make it stronger before she learns to control it, it’ll cause a lot of problems.”

The voices in Lydia’s head fell silent as soon as he finished speaking.

Well, they were still present, but they had calmed. Before they were swarming her, throwing themselves at her in an attempt to drive their meaning home in the form of a premonition. Now they were docile; they were present if she listened, but they could relax since their warning had been heeded.

Lydia relaxed against Stiles and nodded.

“That’s what needs to happen. I’ll work with Mason to control these powers, then we’ll complete my transformation. Parish can start now if he wants.”

The hellhound nodded and turned to Theo with a raised brow.

“Now?”

“Now.” He confirmed. Theo nodded and conjured a spear in the air before Parish, just as he had with Liam. Different than when he stabbed Liam though, when Parish fell slack, Theo caught him with telekinesis and lowered him gently to the tile.

Mason wouldn’t have said you could intimately kill someone until he’d watched Theo kill two different people in the same way, but _completely_ differently.

He couldn’t really wrap his head around what that was really like for Liam and Theo, and he resolved to never try and delve into their memories for the experience.

Knocking himself from those musings, he clapped his hands. Everyone startled, but gave him their attention. Now he was getting excited again. Listening to the crystals and learning their secrets was so much fun!

“Alright, who’s ready to figure out their powers?!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fair warning, I don't delve too deeply into Scott's, Argents, Parish's, or Lydia's powers in this fic. I fully intend to do so in the next installation, but they're not terribly important to the plot here, so I've left the explorations out. Maybe I'll make one-shots for their development. We'll see.  
> I originally had this chapter written in Theo's perspective, but there was just too much happening that was central to Mason. Plus I like writing in 3rd omniscient, which I can only really do with the telepath ;) Plus, that scene between Liam and Theo? I had to take the easy route and do it from Mason's perspective. I've never held someone I loved while stabbing them and keeping eye contact, but I imagine it's some pretty emotionally heavy shit. Not about to make an attempt at writing that XD  
> For those curious about Mason's dispersal and recovery, this video contains the animations I envision when that happened. The recovery is the important part, and happens at 0:42 of the link below. It's pretty anticlimactic, and felt like it was too distracting from the rest of the chapter to have Mason delve into Theo's head to watch him regenerate.  
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tqb8_YTw8wM  
> Hope you enjoyed! next chapter will come out tomorrow.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I realized while proof reading this chapter that I completely forgot that I included Alec at the end of Chronicle! I went back to include him in a couple places, but he's not important yet. Maybe I'll use him in the next installation.

The first kaiju was destroyed two weeks after the first ones showed up.

The footage was captured by a military drone over a thousand feet in the air, recording the assault organized by the United States government. One of the monsters had sprung up in New Mexico – apparently there was a radioactive site there too. It had eradicated any human settlement it came across, and then finally found its way back to the desert.

Ordinary weapons failed against it at first, simply drawing its attention and ire. After several progressively more powerful weapons were brushed off like gnats, the government decided a nuclear assault was the only option left.

The first explosion knocked the monster off its feet and blew off an arm. The second and third, aimed at its thorax and head, hit their targets.

Theo could hear people in other houses cheering, but he was worried. The smoke had yet to clear, and if he couldn’t see a body then he couldn’t confirm the kill. It took nearly an hour for the smoke and debris to clear, and the news stations stopped airing the drone footage. It was maintained online though, and Theo watched it obsessively while the others worked on honing their new abilities, or talking, or going about their days.

Apparently the crystals could affect trees too, because Liam came back from a run and said the Preserve had been ‘monster-fied.’ He showed him pictures with his phone, and his made-up word turned out to be the most apt Theo could come up with.

Liam had just taken shots from the ground, and he couldn’t tell what he was even seeing. It was as though all of the trees had ruptured into jagged, arcing spikes reaching in random directions.

Theo thanked his stars that Liam hadn’t been dumb enough to explore it on his own.

“Of course not, I was gonna wait for you. I also sent the pics to Argent.” The simple explanation made him grow stupidly warm inside. Instead of responding he just shifted so that his leg pressed against Liam’s where they sat. He didn’t move when Liam threw an arm over his shoulder and rested his chin on Theo’s shoulder to watch the live stream with him. Argent could deal with the stupid trees.

They both gasped when the footage became clear enough to see what the bombs had left in their wake.

The monster was gone, was the first thing they noted. It made sense, considering Mason had disintegrated when they killed him, leaving behind only the core of crystal in his heart.

The monster had also left behind an Artifact.

Instead of a tiny, spiky, red crystal, the monster’s remnants were visible from several hundred feet in the air. Theo would guess, just from the distance, that the Artifact was at least five or six feet in diameter. It was a deep-bruise color, and hovered in the air.

A voice spoke over the video, the drone operator narrating what the drone would do next and what his commanding officers decided about anything it saw.

“I’m taking the drone down for a closer look. It is rated to withstand high radiation levels for a few hours before the protections installed cannot keep its internal mechanisms protected.” As the drone drew closer, the footage skipped and blurred, but evened out.

The Artifact was indeed very large, but there was no real frame of reference for them to determine its size. It looked like a sickly-purple orb hovering in the air, with two crystalline spires projecting from the top and bottom. Ribbons of glowing crystal projected out at seemingly-random points and arced around it.

“My superiors would like to remind everyone watching at home that this area is extremely irradiated. Please make no attempts to see this object in person, as once you are close enough to even see it in the distance, you will die. We also have no way of knowing what traits this remnant of the monster may have. A team of remotely piloted vehicles will relocate the object to somewhere it can hopefully be studied in safety. Perhaps this will enable us to combat the others more effectively.”

Theo scoffed to himself at the thought of a normal human even trying to approach the thing. Then he wondered how the radiation would affect those infected by the crystals. They had theorized that the giant kaiju monsters were created by the crystals infecting an animal in a radiation zone, and using all that energy just blowing around to turn it into a monster. Would they spontaneously mutate into giant monsters as well? Or would they be fine, since being infected afforded them some level of conscious control over their physical forms?

Or complete control, in Mason’s case.

“Do you think it’ll regenerate?” Theo’s heart skipped a beat at the thought. It would absolutely make sense. If the kaiju were like them, it would _definitely_ regenerate. Perhaps in as little as a few days. Mason had taken three when he was completely dispersed like the monster.

“I fucking hope not.”

“Do you think there’s a way to stop them from regenerating?”

“I fucking hope so.” Liam didn’t respond, instead just shifting his head so his face was buried in Theo’s neck. His other arm wrapped around Theo’s torso, and he wrapped his arm around Liam’s waist in return.

“I’m really scared, Theo.” The tiny break in Liam’s voice had him set his computer aside to wrap his other arm around Liam too. “This is like the literal apocalypse! Monsters, psycho crystal invaders…So many people have died in the last few days.”

“I don’t know how Lydia isn’t constantly screaming.” It wasn’t even a joke, but Liam barked out a hoarse chuckle.

“Apparently being able to actually focus on the voices and communicate with them to a degree has really helped with the whole banshee scream thing.” That was true. She had been working on her abilities a lot, trying to master them so she could complete the transformation without losing herself to whatever her powers expanded into.

They stopped talking for a few minutes after that, and Theo just took comfort in holding Liam close. They were strong, and he knew they would be okay. Liam and his pack had weathered a lot of shit and pulled through almost unharmed. Sure, this situation was worse by a couple orders of magnitude than anything they’d faced before. They were also a lot stronger than they ever were before. They had a strong pack, and a lot of allies.

Not that Theo thought the allies would be much help if the giant freaking monsters came knocking. Everything would be up to their pack.

“Everything is going to be alright, Little Wolf.” Liam pulled his face from Theo’s shoulder and looked him in the eyes, holding his gaze for several seconds. Liam dropped his eyes first.

“I don’t know how. Everything is already over for so many people. How will the world ever return to normal?”

“I didn’t say it would.” Theo corrected. He couldn’t imagine the world going back to normal after everything that had happened in the last few weeks. Between potentially-immortal kaiju, vast violent monster forests, and immortal super-powered insane people…yeah, things were never going back to normal.

Instead of saying all that though, he just lifted a hand to Liam’s head so he could snag his gaze again.

“Things aren’t going to go back to normal. But _we_ will be alright. We’re going to stop the monsters, and we’ll protect our pack. If we have to, we’ll help everyone who’s left sort out what’s going on with the crystals and stop that too. We’re strong, Liam. Our whole pack is.”

Liam stared at him for several seconds, and Theo registered his heart rate picking up. Liam’s eyes flicked down to his lips, so Theo wasn’t at all surprised when Liam surged forward and kissed him. He gladly kissed back though. He hadn’t wanted to initiate anything, but he knew how he felt about Liam. It had been almost a decade since Theo remembered being in a position to really love anyone, and his family hardly counted.

He obviously hadn’t loved them enough to overcome youthful stupidity compounded by debilitating illness.

Liam pulled away as quickly as he had surged forward, but Theo made sure not to let him get more than a couple inches away.

“I’m sorry, I-“

“Don’t apologize.” He commanded sharply. Liam hesitantly looked back, and Theo leaned forward to kiss him gently. “I love you.” He said simply, relishing Liam’s eyes widened in shock. “Don’t act so surprised. You know me better than anyone; there’s no way you didn’t know.” Liam opened his mouth, but then actually thought for a second. He blushed bright red and nodded. Theo just kissed him again.

_We’re coming in. You have 5 seconds._

Theo and Liam both groaned simultaneously; Mason had the worst timing! Theo was also grateful for the warning, so they didn’t have to subject Scott, Nolan, Argent and Corey to their show when the four of them walked through the front door.

“Good, you’re both here. We need to go to the Preserve.”

***

As grumpy as Theo was about having his alone time with Liam interrupted, Argent had been right. The Preserve was…unrecognizable.

“Those aren’t trees.” Nolan’s voice cracked. Theo couldn’t even mock him, stuck staring at something that could have been a tree, if it were dreamed up by a toddler having a nightmare.

Jagged arcs exploded in all directions, predominately dark-brown or black veined with a radioactive green. It looked like someone had ruptured the trunks and then pulled them like putty until they arced and curve away. Nothing resembling leaves remained.

Every tree in their sightline looked like a piece of the thorn maze from that Sleeping Beauty movie Theo remembered from early in his childhood.

Theo leaped high into the air, soaring above the canopy and registering that whatever the trees had become were larger than they used to be. The worst part was that the monstrosities at the edge were the smallest part of what the Preserve had turned into.

Liam joined him and whistled lowly.

“It’s like we’re not even in Kansas anymore.” He just grimaced at Liam’s terrible quip. “Do you think this happened because those crystals hit the trees?” Theo nodded; it was what he had thought when Liam initially showed him the pictures from his phone.

It also made sense of the fact that there was a massive fortress of the spiked monstrosities looming above the rest around the area Theo expected the crystal-landing site to be.

The two floated back down to regroup with the others.

“What’d you see up there?” Liam just grimaced, so Theo took it upon himself to explain their theory.

“The entire preserve is transformed. It goes on for miles. We think it’s because of the crystals; three of them had buried themselves in trees that first day, and we couldn’t remove them so we just left them alone. There’s a huge citadel-type thing around there.”

They deliberated about their course of action for a few more seconds, but in the end there was only one choice:

Liam led the charge into the forest.

Theo and Scott took off at opposite angles, scouting out to the sides while Argent and Mason took up the rear. Nolan walked in the middle of them prepared to support any side that needed help while remaining in the most heavily defended position. Corey disappeared, probably scouting further afield as the most mobile member of their group.

It was rough going; any semblance of a path had been eradicated by the wild spikes projecting in every direction. Theo gave up walking after a few minutes to just soar around the obstacles, using the flamboyant twists to keep track of his surroundings.

Liam followed his lead soon after, and Nolan grumbled about the unfairness of psychic abilities.

They had only been walking for ten minutes or so when an ear-piercing scream rent the air.

Turning toward the sound, Theo only had a second to react to the beast lunging for him. How had he not sensed it earlier? He had a glimpse of glinting claws and glowing red eyes before he hurled a psychic fist, batting the creature into one of the nearby ‘trees.’ It hit with a crash before falling to the ground and landing on its feet.

If he were forced to guess, Theo would have said it looked like a squirrel. If a toddler was attacked by a rabid squirrel and then asked to draw it years later. The thing stood about four feet high, with inch-long claws on every digit on its four limbs. Fangs glinted beneath its glowing red eyes, and a tail barbed with foot-long needles waved behind it.

A spray of those needles was sent flying toward him as the creature whipped its tail around. He caught them on a hastily conjured wall, eyes widening as they punched through it by several inches. The creature howled as a gunshot rang out, and Theo dropped the wall and needles. The creature leaped and bounced off several branches and spikes, aiming for Nolan. Theo reached out with a mental fist and grabbed it by the neck, hurling it back in the direction it came. It hissed and flicked its tail again, hurling a spray of needles toward him as it flew.

Before he could defend himself, a hole in the air opened up between him and the attack. Theo watched as another hole opened in front of the creature, needles traveling through the portal to attack their owner. The squirrel-thing screamed as it was peppered with foot-long spines. As it fell through the portal, pieces flecked off it. Before it hit the ground it was a blizzard of dust, dispersing into the air.

A little crystal artifact rested on the forest floor.

“Well, that was certainly eventful.” Argent’s wry comment was met with a series of snorts. They left the crystal where it lay, moving on.

Over the course of their scouting, the forest grew larger and the trees and spikes grew thicker. They had to travel upward some distance, using spikes and branches as rugged walkways.

There were also four more attacks.

None of the monsters that attacked them were terribly intelligent, or difficult to fend off, but they were strong. They all seemed to be derived from creatures he would expect to see in the woods: something lupine was probably a coyote at one point, the hoofed knight with a wreath of branched spines projecting from its head may have been a deer.

The ten-foot berserker with fangs and cat ears may have been a mountain lion, but the flaming projectiles it hurled made it hard to tell.

No matter what attacks they used or defended against, or how hard they struck, the trees were unaffected.

“This isn’t bearing us much fruit.” Argent announced once they could see the massive fortress looming over them. Theo couldn’t be sure, but they were probably less than a mile away. They all gathered, Corey appearing from nowhere, on a large branch to discuss. “We don’t have a true purpose here, so fighting against all these creatures just for the sake of exploration strikes me as an unnecessary risk.” Theo shrugged; he agreed, after all.

“But we’re so close!” Liam objected. Theo could understand his desire to go on too. Learning about what the forest had become was fascinating, after all. Even the creatures that attacked them were amazing transmogrifications beyond anything the Dread Doctors could have dreamed of.

A feeling welled up inside him, but he couldn’t pinpoint it. There was something familiar…The Doctors…The crystals…

The feeling fled. Theo shrugged it off and refocused on the group.

“We’ll come back later, Liam.” Scott placated. “Chris is right, going forward when it’s so dangerous and we don’t have a good reason isn’t worth it.” Liam huffed, but accepted his alpha’s opinion.

Corey opened a portal for them back to civilization, and they filed through one at a time. It was probably for the best, Theo figured. They could use a few days of relaxation while they could get it. The turmoil in the rest of the world was bound to make its way to them sooner or later.

***

Theo hated being right.

“The monster appeared mere minutes ago, and is making its way toward San Francisco. Experts theorize the traffic and lights drew it in.”

Experts? Theo scoffed at the reporter; there weren’t any _experts_ on these kaiju beasts. It had been only a few weeks since they first appeared, and they had just killed the first one six days ago.

The first of fourteen, so far.

Each of the most radioactive zones the world over had spawned one of the monsters.

Ukraine was a notable exception, in that it spawned three. The three monster wolves had raged and torn the country apart, devouring everything they could find and smashing or befowling what they couldn’t.

“Freeways are deadlocked, and people have begun fleeing the city on foot. Everyone in the Bay Area is encouraged to flee now; vacate your homes immediately and move as far as you are able. Experts suggest the creature may not stray too far inland, as it resembles an aqueous reptile. However, _everyone_ is encouraged to be prepared to flee their homes at a moment’s notice. Stay tuned for live updates on the matter, and if the creature’s trajectory is expected to affect your area.”

They were definitely close to the threatened area.

“Liam.” He said softly. His boyfriend – that title still brought a spark of warmth in his chest every time he thought of it – turned away from the TV.

“You think we should try and kill it?” He was a little surprised Liam had jumped to that realization so quickly. He looked Liam in the eyes, trying to gauge how he felt about the plan. Liam stared confidently back, although Theo could smell trepidation and fear suffusing the air.

He nodded.

Liam let out a huge breath, then sucked another one in. He let that out too, and nodded in response.

“Let’s get Corey too. He can take us closer, and we can fly the rest of the way.” Theo nodded, and added onto Liam’s plan.

“I think we should take the heart too.” Liam raised an eyebrow at him, so he went on.

He’d been thinking about the beasts’ cores, and he wondered if they could contain one in the forest. The fortress that had grown at the crystals’ landing site certainly seemed impenetrable enough. They had only briefly explored the preserve, but the spikes and ‘branches’ had proved almost indestructible. Even Parrish’s new flames – which could melt some stone – hadn’t harmed them.

If anything could contain one of these kaiju, it was the fortress in the Preserve. The place had the added bonus of being well-protected by the insane, overpowered, immortal monsters that now lived there.

Theo relayed these thoughts to Liam, who agreed with him after only a few seconds of thought. The beta called Scott, who summoned the rest of the pack, and within fifteen minutes most of the pack was spread around Scott’s living room.

“What’s the plan, guys?” Scott broke in as soon as the Sheriff – the last person expected to arrive – walked in the front door. Liam shifted in a way that Theo knew to mean he didn’t really want to explain, so he stepped forward.

“I think Liam, Corey and I should try to kill the kaiju.” A cacophony of voices immediately broke out across the room. A piercing whistle sounded in everyone’s minds, cutting them off immediately. Begrudgingly grateful for Mason’s interference, he nodded at the boy.

“Why Corey? Why not anyone else?” He knew Mason would already have read his intent from his mind, but he explained for everyone else too.

“Corey is the only other one of us with telekinesis. It lets us fly, so we can use attacks that target the kaiju’s head rather than hoping we can hit it hard enough from the ground.

“He can also teleport us closer. So even if he doesn’t feel up to fighting, I’d like him to do that.” Argent, Scott and Parrish all made bids for why they should go instead of any of them, but he just shook his head. “I’ve got something else I need you guys to do.”

“What could possibly be more important?”

“Containing its heart after we kill it.” Argent opened his mouth, primed with a rebuttal to whatever Theo had intended to say, but apparently he hadn’t prepared for that. Theo went on in his silence. “I think we can use the fortress in the Preserve as a holding space for the Artifact that makes up the creature’s core. If it’s like the one in New Mexico, it’ll be big. It also needs to be a place that _might_ stand a chance of containing the kaiju _when_ it regenerates.”

“The other one hasn’t; maybe they won’t.” He just shook his head at Scott’s optimism.

“It’s too dangerous to rely on that. Plus, this thing will probably be radioactive, and the Preserve has a bunch of energy-sucking crystal-plants that stand a better chance of absorbing all that radiation than anything else we’ve got.”

“How do you intend for us to get the Artifact in there? How can we rely on the fortress to keep it safe, instead of the crystals doing something with it?” Theo had been thinking about that over the last few days, since they first explored the new Preserve. He turned to Mason.

_You’ll need to help me with validating these ideas._

He thought the words to the telepath before answering Argent’s questions.

“I’ve got theories about the crystals. Based on what Mason has learned of their intelligence, drives, and goals, the crystals that control the trees in the forest aren’t overly intelligent. Using hive-mind approximations, the three crystals that make up the fortress’ core have only limited planning and thinking abilities.”

“How on earth can you draw those conclusions?” Mason, the godsend, jumped in for him.

“Each crystal that we’ve absorbed has no real intelligence to speak of. They have feelings, and intentions, and drives, but that’s it. I’d guess they’re no more cognizant than a dumb animal. If the properties are additive, then three of them working together probably ranks about as high as a pack of wolves, on the high end. Hopefully. They may not even be sentient, let alone sapient.”

“And Mason could determine this, when he goes with you.” Theo added. Mason cast a quick look at him, but there was no reproach so he assumed the other boy was fine with it.

“So you think the crystals aren’t smart enough to defend themselves, or have plans. That doesn’t help us prepare the fortress to receive the Artifact.”

“No, but…” Mason trailed off, looking back to Theo. He figured the other boy had read his plan, and had more educated thoughts on the matter. His plan had been a barebones hope at best; Mason would probably be able to give it real substance. He nodded, signaling that Mason should continue.

“We might be able to hijack the fortress, on a spiritual level.” Everyone except Theo just blinked in confusion, so Mason continued. “When we were each infected by the crystals, we waged a psychic battle with them. The crystals have a dark energy entity, just like a human soul, or a werewolf spark. We each overwhelmed ours, but I think the people who went berserk lost their fights.

“If we can…invade the supernatural entity with our own, we might be able to rewire how they’ve interacted with the trees. We could reshape them, potentially even rewire their drives and actions to be beneficial.”

“I should go too.” Everyone turned to look at Nolan, surprised at his statement. It made sense to Theo, though; if any one of them started going berserk, for whatever reason, his human blood could be used to bring them back. They could also carry blood bags, but those would be easy to break.

There was some resistance, but he made the arguments Theo expected, and when both he and Mason added their support to Nolan’s idea, everyone else got reluctantly on board.

That decided, it was time for them all to break apart.

“Argent, Scott, Mason, Nolan, and Parrish: Corey will make a portal for you guys to the forest.”

“I could dump you right at its heart, but I think it might be a better idea to let you walk to it from where we stopped before. Who knows what’s become of the landing site since we were last there.” Everyone agreed, so everyone made their goodbyes. There were a lot of hugs; Scott even gave Theo one before clapping him on the shoulder and saying a hopeful ‘see you soon.’ Corey and Mason professed their love again, but he couldn’t begrudge them that: he would likely do the same with Liam if they were splitting up like the other couple.

“Wait!” Lydia cried out urgently. Everyone turned to face her, alarmed. She was staring off into space, mouth twitching occasionally. No one moved; Theo wasn’t sure anyone was even breathing. “I need to go to the forest as well.” Theo could feel the rebuttals and arguments welling up from everywhere, but no one actually said anything.

They had all learned, after all, that Lydia’s feelings were rarely wrong.

“Please be safe.” Stiles begged his girlfriend. She nodded and kissed him and Derek.

Corey opened a hole in the air, and the Forest Team filed through.

Closing it behind them, they prepared to leave. Only Derek, Stiles, Malia, and Alec were staying behind.

“Good luck,” Derek said simply. Theo just nodded. Corey smiled nervously, then opened a hole to their destination.

Corey hadn’t been to San Francisco regularly, but he and Mason had been to Sant Cruz – which was much closer than Beacon Hills – a couple times. They stepped through the portal onto the Boardwalk, and the three of them immediately launched into the air.

From several miles up, it was easy to make out the curve of the shore that would lead them toward San Francisco. Theo conjured a shield and took off, rocketing through the air fast enough that the world beneath blurred.

They really needed to find of way of determining their maximum speed, because they only flew for a couple minutes before San Francisco came into view.

So did the kaiju.

Once they got close enough to make out details, one thing was very clear; the creature was enormous. The tallest two or three buildings in San Francisco seemed taller from his angle in the air, but the monster seemed taller than the rest.

Theo also couldn’t see lower than its knees, since it was still wading in the ocean heading toward the city.

The thing looked like an honest-to-god Godzilla. Crocodillian with a smushed face, and massive spikes along its spine. It waded on its hind legs like a t-rex through the ocean.

“I’m gonna punch it in the face.” Liam’s words barely registered before the werewolf was rocketing through the air.

“Fuck, Liam!” He screamed, though it was futile. He could have projected an illusion into Liam’s mind, but the boy was moving fast enough that he would hit the creature in just a couple seconds. Theo just prayed he would be smart enough to project a strong shield. He and Corey hurtled themselves forward as well.

Liam crashed into the monster, and it screamed. Theo could make out the werewolf as he ricocheted off the kaiju, and the thing stumbled and fell over. Liam tumbled through the air for a few seconds, but seemed to catch himself and changed course, so he couldn’t be too hurt.

Theo focused and conjured a huge spear, then hurled it at the monster.

It struck home, but the force behind the throw, and the strength of Godzilla’s armored scales, were stronger than his hold over the spear. It shattered into fragments that quickly dissolved into motes of light.

Shit, that thing was tough.

And angry.

Godzilla turned and looked around for them. Theo hoped he was small enough that the creature would struggle to see him, then decided not to risk it. Imagining the deep water roiling, Theo planted an illusion of an enormous leviathan rising from the depths to fight Godzilla. The monster turned to face its new foe.

“I’m covering you.” He said, and Corey nodded before hurtling forward. He looked like he would strike the left side of the monster, so Theo had his illusion send a tentacle toward it from the right. Godzilla reacted appropriately, turning so it couldn’t see Corey as the boy flew forward.

Liam evidently saw an opportunity; he could just make out the boy’s hands outstretched – probably to help with an intense visualization. Godzilla’s left leg lifted out of the water, knocking it off balance just as Corey slammed into its head. Theo was sure to envision a tentacle wrapping around the creature’s leg to hide Liam’s powers.

He didn’t know if the monster would be smart enough to learn that they could hit it without touching it. He didn’t even know if it knew they were there. His goal was to prolong those secrets as long as the fight lasted.

The monster’s stomach and spikes began glowing. It scrambled to its feet, bracing all four limbs on the ocean’s floor. Corey and Liam were rebounding, so Theo had his kraken rear up for another attack.

Godzilla unleashed a massive blast at his illusion. It looked like a Hyper Beam from the old pokemon games, a solid beam of blue energy crackling with lightning. He envisioned it contacting his kraken, exploding and tearing through it and sending it further into the depths.

A series of vibrant purple spears coalesced in the air, and Theo watched as they hurled down to strike the monster in the back. Liam hadn’t mastered his new psionic abilities, but they were powerful. Having his boyfriend make a cage for the creature’s Artifact was his fallback.

Liam could generate energy constructs with the ability to affect the physical world. They were clearly constructs, unlike Theo’s conjurations. Also unlike Theo’s abilities, Liam could make them last longer than his attention span. While they consisted of psychic energy, Liam could mold and shape them at will. He could then transform them into solid crystal, and they would persist until something managed to destroy them.

Some of Liam’s spears were solid, and those missed Godzilla. They pierced into the ocean though and seemed to frame the monster, curved and trapping it down. The energy spears made contact and dissipated, although the kaiju roared and thrashed like they hurt.

It broke through the crystal restraints easily.

Maybe the trees wouldn’t be able to withstand the might of the kaiju either. They hadn’t compared the strength of the trees to Liam’s solidified psionic constructs, but he had been hopeful they would be comparable.

Theo envisioned his kraken returning from the depths with an assault on the kaiju.

Liam flew in a wide arc around Godzilla’s head, hurling massive bolts of energy that exploded and buffeted the monster.

Corey was nowhere to be seen. Theo hoped he was just invisible.

“Liam, go fly in front of the sun and hurl some bolts.” He projected into the werewolf’s ears. “I want him to fire another hyper beam.” Liam immediately zoomed off and into the glare of the setting sun, so he obviously got the message. This time he focused on casting a sonic projection into the physical world.

“Corey, prep for the hyper beam!” The sound travelled away from him, and hopefully found Corey’s ears. He focused on a new construct, this time a giant bird that would appear to everyone’s eyes. It seemed to spit the psionic bolts that Liam threw, and would hopefully serve as a distraction for Godzilla’s hyper beam. He didn’t want it to hit Liam if Corey was missing.

After a few seconds of being assaulted, Godzilla roared and charged up a new blue beam. Much to Theo’s relief, as soon as the monster unleashed its blast, a hole opened in the air directly in the beam’s trajectory. Another hole opened in front of the kaiju’s chest, and its own energy beam struck it directly where a human’s heart would be.

Godzilla screamed and fell backward, its hyper beam cutting off. The holes in the air disappeared and, as it was falling, Theo saw that the scales on its chest had been seared away to a bloody hole underneath.

Liam pulled to a stop in front of him, and turned to look at the roiling waves where the beast fell. Corey appeared as well, and the three looked on.

“As soon as it gets back up, we’ve gotta strike. If it’s like us, it’ll heal that damage soon enough and we’ll be back to phase one.” The other two nodded.

“What’s the plan?” In response, Theo conjured a massive, four-pronged harpoon. His hope was to cut through the monster’s chest, catch the Artifact, and punch it out the other side. As he developed the strength of the spear, it warped and twisted, and turned to a dark, matte black.

“Liam, slingshot this as hard as you can. Corey, open a portal to the wound in its chest.” Both of them caught on quickly. The spear began shifting as Liam wound up a psychic sling, bending and warping forces none of them could see.

The water frothed as Godzilla lifted itself from the water. Its chest still bore a hole, although there was no visible blood. He hoped it was just because the water had washed the blood away, and the wound had been cauterized by the lightning.

“Ready?” His voice was strained, and he felt liquid drip down onto his upper lip with how hard he was focusing on the strength of his spear. This one had to survive contact with the monster.

“Now!” Corey yelled. A hole opened in front of the spear, and Theo could see the wrecked flesh of the kaiju’s wound. Liam released the force he’d built up, and the spear blinked forward. They heard a snapping sound, followed by a splash.

Through Corey’s portal, Theo could see into the heart of Godzilla, and out to the water on the other side. He released his hold on the spear, and Corey allowed the portals to snap closed.

Godzilla stood still, mouth agape. They watched as its knees gave out and it began tumbling forward. As it fell, pieces of it were left behind, fluttering in the air before disappearing. As it hit the water, it blurred to their eyes, and Theo was relieved as motes of darkness bounced up from the waves and dispersed into the air.

The three boys allowed themselves hefty sighs of relief.

They’d done it. They killed the kaiju.

“We should go find the Artifact.” Theo nodded to Liam’s statement. It amused him that the word he’d used offhand to describe the crystal cores had caught on.

They flew forward, hoping they would just be able to see the Artifact beneath the surface of the waves. Unfortunately the water off the San Francisco coast was far too murky for that.

The water suddenly violently shifted, splitting like Moses had decided to lead the Israelites right beneath them. Theo looked over to see Liam with a focused expression, blood dripping slowly from his nose. Theo dove closer to the parted waves, ignoring them as great swathes of water fell so other areas could open up. He carved his own valleys down to the sea floor nearly a hundred feet deep in some places.

After nearly half an hour of searching, two things happened simultaneously. Corey hollered “I found it!”

And Theo heard a helicopter approaching.

Looking toward the source of the sound, Theo could just make out the helicopter. It was far enough that it would take them a minute or two to reach them. Theo wasn’t sure what they wanted, but it couldn’t be good. He turned to his friends, who were hovering over a hole in the water that led straight down.

At the bottom of the hole rested the kaiju’s Artifact.

Liam looked worn out, so he offered to bring it up. His boyfriend nodded, so Theo reached out and imagined grabbing the Artifact in a massive hand.

It failed to move at first.

Theo needed several conscious increases in focus before it shifted and allowed itself to be lifted. He felt his nose bleeding, and almost lost his focus when he realized _just_ how much effort was required to maintain his hold on the Artifact. By the time he pulled it above the waves, the helicopter was upon them.

“Release the object and approach the helicopter slowly.” Theo saw Liam lift an incredulous eyebrow at the voice speaking to them over a loudspeaker.

“Let me take that, Theo. You go deal with the government.” Personally, he thought they should just dip and flee through one of Corey’s portals. Instead he nodded. The pressure of holding the Artifact suddenly vanished, so he assumed Liam had it. He wiped his nose and refocused himself on constructing a mask to hide his identity from whoever was in the helicopter.

“Be ready to portal us out of here,” he instructed. Corey responded with a nod before disappearing. Theo turned and drifted slowly toward the helicopter. Holding the mask in place was easy enough, so he also projected a thin shield around himself, just in case the guys in the helicopter were trigger happy.

Not that bullets were likely to do much more than hurt.

He couldn’t help enjoying the wary and fearful looks on the faces of the soldiers in the helicopter. There were three people apart from the pilot, and one of them was visibly more decorated. He wouldn’t pretend to know much about the military, but he figured assuming this guy was the most important would be safe. Theo ignored the two guys pointing guns at him.

“What do you want?” he asked, dropping the pitch of his voice just in case.

“That object is government property. You are to release it immediately, and then submit yourself for questioning.” Theo tilted his head. Who the fuck did this guy think he was?

“I’m not sure why you expect me to listen to you. Did you think trying to intimidate the guy that just killed Godzilla seemed like a good plan?” He turned his face toward the other two. “Did either of you? Or were you shitting yourselves as you were selected for this terrible idea?” Neither lackey responded, but their eyes widened and Corporal Asshat grew red. Whether from embarrassment or rage didn’t really matter to Theo.

“I am Corporal Gerald-“ the guy had on a sanctimonious voice, so Theo stopped listening. He reached out with a thought and yanked the guy from the helicopter. The man yelped as he was dragged into open air. Theo drifted backward, dangling the _‘Corporal_ ’ over the water. “Unhand me this instant!”

“I mean, I will, but you don’t want me to.” Theo shrugged. He pulled the man close enough that they could talk without screaming over the sound of the helicopter. The two grunts in the machine were arguing, probably about what they were supposed to do when their commander was pulled from the vehicle.

“You and your comrades are in violation of-“

“Oh my god, shut up.” Theo growled. He dropped the man a few feet before snatching him back up and dragging him to eye level. “Here’s what’s gonna happen.” The man remained silent, obviously sufficiently intimidated. Finally. “I know a guy in the FBI. You’re going to have your commanding officer contact Raphael McCall regarding whatever the hell you’re doing. I will only talk to him. I don’t trust you, or the government, and I know for a fact that none of you have any idea what’s going on.”

A thought occurred to him.

“If the government decides to do some witchcraft to find me or anyone I know personally, I will decide to stop being a good guy and personally destroy D.C and everyone in it. Make sure that threat is extremely clear when you report this interaction to your superiors. Understood?” Corporal douchebag nodded, and Theo returned him to the helicopter.

He desperately hoped it would be that easy.

Turning his attention back to Liam, he nodded. A hole in the air opened up, big enough for the Artifact.

The three of them drifted through, and crossed into the Preserve.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you guys enjoyed this! Give me your thoughts, I hope I covered everything appropriately! Sorry for all you Thiam shippers that the relationship stuff is so sparse; I'm more of a plot/action kinda guy, and including relationship deets really takes it out of me.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here is the last chapter for this installation! It's much shorter than the others, but that's because everything I might have included works better in the next fic.  
> I hope you've all enjoyed this! I've had a couple faithful followers since the beginning of this series, and I'm super appreciative that you guys have stuck with me so far! Hopefully I'll keep chugging out stuff you enjoy!

Without Theo and Liam to handle most of the monsters, Mason saw a lot more action. He was used to being a human, so the only ability he regularly used was his telepathy. He didn’t have much reason to shapeshift, although he knew he could do so freely.

Despite his reluctance, claws and blades and muscle came naturally when he called for them. Leaping forward at inhuman speeds to tear fatal gashes in the monster gunning for Nolan was as easy as thought. It scared him, a little bit, how easy it was to be deadly. He had never felt the Beast of Gevaudan as a presence before, but it crowed in victory as the creatures dissolved before his eyes.

Mason reeled himself back in, allowing the bestial features to fade back to smooth human skin.

“Thanks, dude.” Nolan said, climbing over a spike that cut across his path.

He just nodded; it’s not like he could do anything else. He wouldn’t hesitate to fight off a monster for Nolan, or Lydia. He wouldn’t hesitate to jump in a fight to help Scott or Argent or Parish either.

Not that they would need it.

A scream and a wave of heat from the left reinforced his thoughts as Parish barbequed some unfortunate beast.

Corey’s portal had opened in the same place they had abandoned their course the first time. As Liam predicted, it only took them another ten minutes to arrive at the base of the massive fortress.

They used the word ‘fortress,’ but really it was just three massive, branching pillars – they used to be tree trunks – connected by countless rib-spikes inside and out.

“We should find the heart of it.” Argent suggested. “Do you think there will be a central location where the three trees connect?” Mason shrugged. Instead of answering, he reached out with his mind. The crystals within the tree-fortress were…fused. There were three nodes where the crystals’ conscious was strongest, but they seemed to comprise a single being spread throughout the entire fortress.

It was as they’d theorized; the crystals combined into one greater being operated by three lesser consciousnesses. It also didn’t seem particularly aware. It gave no notice of them, and there were no active thoughts that Mason could detect. It seemed to just be a collection of impulses, most of which weren’t even acting on any part of the tree. They had already enacted their changes to the trees’ biology, and now were just…waiting.

Mason wasn’t too keen to find out for what.

Lydia led the way into the fortress, much to everyone’s alarm.

The inside of the tree fortress was a complicated maze that Mason couldn’t make heads or tails of. Branches carved across one another randomly, creating twisting paths that were even more difficult to navigate than the area outside. It reminded him of The Lion King when Simba escaped from the hyenas by running through the thorns. Lydia unerringly marched forward, ducking around spears of black…whatever the trees were made of now, and plunging ever deeper into the maze.

Nothing attacked them, and Mason couldn’t help worry that it was because the inside of the tree was too scary for the terrifying monsters.

Mason guessed that they had been walking for a mile or so, when the spikes in front of them gave way to a vast space. Their way had been growing steadily darker the deeper into the fortress they plunged, and there was no sunlight that pierced this deep. The space was lit only by the vibrant green that veined the spikes. He was ironically grateful for his new night vision, thanks to the crystals. The three trees that formed the bulk of the fortress served as anchors for walls made of interlocking branches and spikes. Several of the spiked branches protruded from the tangle-walls, arcing in a way that would make navigating up or down easier. He leaned over the side of the spike arcing down away from them to look toward the ground.

He gasped.

Far below them, somehow visible through the deepening gloom two or three hundred feet below them, was the Nemeton.

Mason had only seen it once, but the great, ruined stump was not something he was liable to ever forget. He could hear it now, too. There was a vast supernatural entity housed in the tree, expanding outward through the ground in every direction. The presence stretched farther than Mason’s telepathic range. There was not much in the way of cognizance, but an overwhelming possessiveness, defensiveness, and anger pricked at his senses.

“What is the Nemeton doing here?” Chris asked roughly, sounding concerned. Lydia responded, and the tone of her voice and mind made Mason even more worried than the presence of the great stump.

“The crystals were diverting the ley lines.” She sounded like she was in the middle of a premonition, her voice echoing strangely and lacking any emotion. “She came here to hold onto them. She knew we would come.” Mason worried that Lydia could hear all that, but he couldn’t. He reached out to see in her mind, but flinched back.

It was chaos.

There was a cacophony of screaming voices in Lydia’s head. He had no idea how she could remain upright, let alone make sense of anything she was hearing!

Lydia led the way down the path, and Mason could see that while the spike they were on now wouldn’t take them all the way down, there were other branches protruding close enough to its end point that it would be simple to switch. It took another ten minutes, and his knees ached by the time they touched the ground.

“She knows our plan, and she wants to help.” Nervous at the flat words, Mason tried to feel for any presence poking around in his head. The Nemeton’s presence was a vague, supernatural miasma in the air, but it seemed directionless and he couldn’t see how it would carry thoughts. It could be connected to Lydia, and reading the plan from her mind, but he couldn’t get through the screaming voices to find out.

“Mason, you must direct the assault.” Lydia instructed softly. “I will serve as the conduit for the Nemeton.” He blanched, feeling suddenly burdened that everything was up to him. He had no idea what he was doing! Sure, he had ideas, but there was no precedent for this!

He mentally slapped himself, forcing himself to calm down. There was no precedent for this, but there was no precedent for _anything_ that had happened in the last few weeks! He had made all of the discoveries that led them to this point. He could do this too.

Mason had been tossing theories around in his head since they set off on this trip. With everything he had learned, Mason felt like one plan would work better than the others. Nodding to himself, he decided it was time to find out.

“Parish, Chris, Scott, each of you go to one of the trunks.” The space was vaguely circular, so it would provide some nice symmetry. The actual positions probably didn’t matter, as long as they could make physical contact with the main bodies that housed the crystals. They all nodded and spread out, each taking up a position in front of the massive trunks.

Mason reached out to them with his thoughts, allowing their minds to flow into and around his. The three of them startled in surprise when they realized they could sense each other through him. He let each of them see his intentions, and received positive vibes in return. None of them had any more clue than he did, but they were willing to trust him.

As one, the three of them slashed open their palms, generated the talon-gauntlet things they could all wear, and thrust their bloodied hands into the walls. Mason wasn’t sure it would work, but a rush of energy accompanied their actions, and somehow their hands plunged into the trees.

The presence of the crystals immediately joined their psychic bond. Mason heard himself cry out as a vast psychic entity began invading as well. He gathered his wits as quickly as he could and slammed the link shut. Somehow. He didn’t really understand it, and was too preoccupied with the raging crystals in the trees.

Chris, Scott and Parish all struggled against the crystals, while Mason held them together. It was almost the same as when they had each woken up; the crystals flooded them with drives and emotions and intent, and they had to battle for domincance against those drives. This time, they also had to invade the crystals and overwhelm them within the trees.

But once they were no longer physically connected, how were they supposed to maintain dominion over the trees?

 _Mason._ Lydia’s mental voice called out to him. Her intent was clear, and although it terrified him, this had been part of the plan all along. He reached out and included her in the psychic bond.

A well of power rushed into them through Lydia. The presence of the Nemeton flooded through them and invaded the trees through the physical link maintained by Scott, Parish and Chris.

Lydia screamed, and Mason turned to look at her. Her eyes were glowing a vibrant red, just like Chris’ had when he transformed.

 _Nolan!_ He sent the call out urgently, hoping the boy could understand since he was struggling to maintain the bond with the supernatural war raging within it. The boy immediately jumped into action. Nolan ran across the top of the Nemeton to reach Lydia faster. A pocket knife slashed open his wrist, and he pressed it to Lydia’s mouth.

Her screaming mouth transformed, fangs tearing down from her gums, and she bit through Nolan’s arm.

He fell screaming to the stump of the Nemeton, and Lydia collapsed to the ground. Blood gushed from Nolan’s arm onto the tree.

The mental bond was dissolved as a wave of force threw the rest of them away from the walls and to the ground. Nolan tumbled to the ground as he was pushed off the tree, and Mason had to look up to see by what.

Something had triggered the Nemeton’s growth.

The trunk of the tree rose several meters before it exploded with branches. The wood beams spiraled out and struck into the walls of the fortress, natural branches piercing the strange black-and-green walls of the transformed trees.

Mason felt the change on the mental plane easily. The crystals were overwhelmed by the Nemeton, as easily as an adult picking up a toddler. It took over their control of the fortress, and waves of energy spread its presence into the rest of the Preserve.

Nolan’s pained groan pulled his attention back to his immediate surroundings. The human was holding his arm as it gushed blood. There was already a puddle of it soaking the ground. Mason’s eyes widened in alarm. How long would it take a person to bleed out from losing a hand?

A familiar presence appeared within his range, and he nearly sobbed with relief.

 _Corey! Come here now!_ He yelled out to his boyfriend. With the mental cry he provided an image of their surroundings, as well as the knowledge of their relation in space.

A hole opened in the air, and Corey leaped through. Liam and Theo followed, the enormous Artifact from the kaiju hovering between them, but Mason couldn’t worry about that. He sent a pulse of information into Corey’s mind.

_Nolan’s dying. Go home and get a crystal, we don’t have time for anything else._

Corey blinked away, and he turned to Nolan.

_Corey’s getting a crystal. Can we turn you? Or should we have Parish cauterize your arm?_

Nolan gritted his teeth, but his thoughts were clear and resolute.

_Turn me. It was bound to happen sooner or later._

Corey reappeared seconds later, a blue crystal in hand.

 _I’m so sorry this happened, Nolan._ He whispered into the boy’s mind. He received a mental shrug and smile in return, with a wave of fatalism.

He nodded to his boyfriend, and Corey plunged the crystal into Nolan’s heart.

Nolan spasmed and then fell still, but Mason knew he would be alright. He turned his attention to Liam and Theo, lifting the kaiju Artifact into the air.

Branches arced away from the walls as they flew, forming ribs of a sphere in the air above the naked branches of the restored Nemeton. They directed the Artifact into the cage, and the branches continued growing until they surrounded it.

A wave of positivity and promise echoed around the space, and Mason could only assume it was from the Nemeton. Gratitude followed, before everything faded into the same unclear background presence it was when they first arrived.

The sudden release of tension left him boneless, and only Corey reaching out to envelop him in his telekinesis kept him standing. Liam and Theo leaned into one another, obviously holding each other up. Parish scooped Lydia into his arms, and Scott did the same with Nolan.

Corey opened a hole in the air, letting them walk right into the McCall’s living room. Melissa cleaned Nolan up and then put him in the spare room where he could wake in comfort. Parish relinquished Lydia to Stiles and Derek, who both had massive freak outs that Mason was impressed they managed to conceal. They arranged her on the couch lying across their laps.

Finally feeling safe, Mason closed his eyes.

An ear-splitting screech ripped him from unconsciousness. Coarse, protective fur erupted across his body and fangs and nails sprouted while he looked for the threat.

“Lydia, Lydia! It’s us! It’s alright, you’re okay!”

Lydia was hovering in the corner of the room, eyes blazing red and talons and fangs bared. Stiles and Derek stood with their hands raised placatingly. After a few seconds her face scrunched up and she descended to the floor, eyes dimming back to their normal shade of hazel.

“It’s so loud.” Mason reached out tentatively at her words, dipping just under the surface of her mind, and flinched back.

The roar of endlessly speaking voices had changed to wild, cacophonous screaming. Mason grimaced, concerned and worried for his friend. He had no idea how to help Lydia; her connection to the dead was far stronger than his to the living, and had apparently only grown stronger with her transformation.

As he watched her struggle, Lydia took a deep breath. As she exhaled, a presence broke away from the damned chorus in Lydia’s mind. To his eyes, the world around her shimmered. Fascinated, Mason forced himself to endure the screaming to learn what was happening with Lydia.

It was difficult, but as soon as he had determined that Lydia knew the presence it vanished, taking the screams with it. His eye refocused, catching hers.

“What just happened?” he asked, drawing gazes from around the room. Lydia straightened up and her fingers through her hair. Mason hadn’t registered her hair, distracted by the levitation and fangs and claws, but her fiery mane had been floating in a blazing corona around her until she dropped to the ground. Her response was measured, her dismissive tone forced.

“A friend helped me out. I can harness energy from passed souls to do…things.” Mason’s jaw dropped, and he felt shock and awe radiating from everyone else in the room.

“That’s my badass, radiant banshee goddess for ya!” Stiles crowed, punching the air and pulling her into a hug. She appeared to tolerate it, but her relief reached Mason and her hand clutched at Stiles’ back a little too firmly to be casual.

“Lydia, sweetheart,” Melissa intoned from the other side of the room. She clearly itched to go to the girl, but watching all of the transformations thus far had taught her it was smarter to stay far away for the first few minutes. “Would you like a blood bag?” Lydia thought for a moment, gauging her feelings, and then shook her head.

“I’m alright, Melissa. Thank you.” The nurse nodded with a smile.

“Alright then, can I check you over, make sure everything looks good?” Perfect health was a foregone conclusion, but Melissa had been insistent with every transformation. No one was willing to begrudge her need to make sure they were all fine.

As with the others, Lydia was in perfect health.

Mason let himself relax, and when Nolan woke up the next day without even lashing out at anyone, he finally felt like the nightmare was ending.

Not over, because giant monsters still rampaged around the world, and millions of people were dying every day. But they had a minute to breathe, to collect themselves and fortify their bodies and spirits against whatever drama came next.

With the world in shambles, it was more of a ‘when’ than an ‘if,’ but Mason almost felt confident.

They had killed a kaiju, hijacked a monster forest fortress and channeled a supernatural deity.

They could handle anything.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've already started writing the next installation of this verse. It will be a minute before I start posting, becuase I want to have it completely/mostly written before I start posting it, as usual.  
> That said, I was let go from my job this last week, so I'll have lots of time to write! Don't worry, it's been a long time coming, and I should have quit like a year or two ago. It's time for me to start pursuing the other stuff I'm interested in, rather than being complacent with that job. It was a fun job, but letting me go was the right choice for all parties.  
> Until next time!


End file.
